Here’s philosopher Jim Holt delivering a TED talk with one of the TED-talkiest titles ever (just listen to the audience laugh in a paroxysm of absurd self-awareness): “Why does the Universe Exist?” And yet it’s a pretty great presentation.
In all seriousness, I know it’s popular these days to give TED a hard time for being ineffectual, navel-gazy, and paradoxically vapid, but I’m going to come down on Holt’s side here and say this his presentation serves as a thoughtful and engaging introduction to the mathematical, philosophical, scientific and religious sides of nothingness and something-ness
. If you’re into this sort of thing, you will thoroughly enjoy Holt’s 2012 book of a similar title, which, like his talk, is filled with plenty of name-dropping, sure, but also an ample helping of more rigorous, in-depth exploration.
https://gizmodo.com/8-great-philosophical-questions-that-well-never-solve-5945801
[TED]
