Question by machinehead: Metaphysics meets epistemology: Does a universe containing absolutely no sentience exist?
I say no, but this might get some interesting answers.
I know people rarely return to these questions but here is an amendment to the:
Suppose that you either imagine or conjecture the existence of some alternate universe and come reasonably close in that hypothesis, such that you could devise a reasonable ‘experiment’ to test for its existence; in so doing, would you not have ‘communicated’ sentience into that universe?
Paradoxically, you have proven that you cannot prove its [universe containing no sentience] existence or non-existence.
When one attributes ‘existence’ to some phenomenon, aren’t they really attributing ‘meaning’?
Best answer:
Answer by KennyB
Well, if you use the earth as an example of sentience, the answer may then be “yes”
What do you think? Answer below!
If one believes in the existence multiple universes, it is possible, but impossible to verify.
Could one scan a universe for sentience and remain outside that universe? If so, the answer could still be yes. If not, the answer must be no.
then, i think, the question really becomes what it would mean for a universe to contain anything, much less sentience
I do not know about other universes. I know a little about two other things though, 1) other planes of reality and 2) possible worlds.
1) To the best of my knowledge, there is no plane of reality in which no sentience exists. But I think it is possible that there exists at least one subplane that contains no sentience specific to it.
2) Yes there is at least one possible world in which there exists no sentience.
Yes, things can exist without beings knowing about them. There doesn’t have to be someone to see everything. There are many parts of this universe that no one has ever seen or thought about, yet we do not claim that these places do not exist.
Answering your Q: We can speculate using our imagination and posit the existence of such a universe in which there is no sentience. All the metaphysical possibilities we can imagine about alternatives to the universe we actually inhabit is less interesting and pale in comparison to all the metaphysical possibilities we can imagine about what kinds of sentience exist or will exist in our universe. Sentience seems to emerge as soon as forms of life emerge, somehow, from the apparently lifeless components formed in exploding stars.
If you want to task yourself in this area read Leibnitz’s Monadology or Spinoza’s Ethics, The metaphysical and epistemological issues these 17th century philosophers consider are mind-blowing.
I see you have asked a Q related to, but separate from, the Q asked. I think you should post it separately. When you do, try to remove the equivocation of using the word *communicate* in more than one sense. It seems to me the word has been employed to mean both “exchange of information with sentient beings or entities” & “contamination by contact with a non-sentient universe.”