Much ado about nothing: cosmological and anthropic limits of quantum fluctuations

TL;DR

This paper explores philosophical and scientific limits on understanding the universe's origin, focusing on the concept of nothingness, pre-inflationary conditions, and the constraints of anthropic and computational perspectives.

Contribution

It introduces a novel discussion on the conceptual versus computational understanding of the universe's beginning, integrating cosmological, anthropic, and computational considerations.

Findings

Highlights the distinction between conceptual and computational grasp of pre-Big Bang conditions.

Proposes that understanding of nothingness may be fundamentally limited by human cognition and computation.

Suggests that certain aspects of the universe's origin may be inherently unknowable.

Abstract

This paper deals with the philosophical issues of the notion of nothingness and pre-inflationary stage of the universe in physical cosmology. We presuppose that, in addition to cosmological limits, there may be both anthropic and computational limits for our ability to understand and replicate the conditions before the Big Bang. That is, the very notion of nothingness and pre-Big Bang state may be conceptually, but not computationally grasped.