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Vincent asked:
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What would be the result if all motion in the universe suddenly ceased? Would time exist or ever have
existed? Would matter or energy exist?
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If all motion in the universe ceased instantaneously, you'd have one God-almighty Big Bang on your
hands, Vincent. The question of time doesn't even enter consideration; there certainly would not be
enough to call the fire brigade. You understand I put this silly joke in, so that you will realise that
"time" is not an independently existing entity, but tied to periodicity: the phases of the moon, the
rotation of the galaxy, the oscillations of an excited sulphur atom. If you've got none of these, no time.
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Would matter or energy exist, after the big crunch? According to current physics theories, matter and
energy always exist; they are two phases of the same thing and conserved throughout all changes.
Without matter, no universe. Without energy, no matter. Without a universe, no energy. It is not,
however, a concept easy to live with. No philosopher, no scientist has ever proposed a theory of
"Nothing". Maybe you should ask the Buddhists. I believe it is a more familiar notion in their
philosophies. On the other hand, they do not in this context admit of your and our concept of matter.
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Jürgen Lawrenz
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Sydney
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