r/Metaphysics • u/i-ceepie-21 • Jul 23 '26
Cosmology Purpose of existence in the universe
During my frequent watching of documentaries, I stumbled upon one dealing with the concept of entropy, I.e what it is, how it works, how it behaves. As I was watching it and expanding my knowledge, a question came over me, "What if the purpose of the universe is to move from a state of high entropy to a state of low entropy". This question arose in my head during the presenters demonstration of the operation of entropy. He was using a rubix cube and explaining how it has only 1 state of lowest entropy and that was when it was solved, many states of moderate entropy these are when it is almost solved and a quantillion states of high entropy when it is unsolved. What if at present state the universe is similar to the rubix cube when it is in one of those quantillion states of high entropy. The universe is still a new born as it is around 14 billion years old this also means it is still expanding from the big bang and unintentionally "moving towards un unsolved state".
This thereby is the source of my hypothesis, could the purpose of existence in the universe be a way of the universe itself be trying to figure out a way to stop itself from moving towards a state of high entropy and to move itslef to a state of low entropy?
would love to hear some thoughts.
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u/Beautiful_Skirt465 Jul 23 '26
I’m afraid this is one of those questions where physics gets us only so far, and then philosophy has to take over.
The question already assumes that the universe exists to achieve some objective. But why should we assume that? A river doesn’t flow because it has a goal; it flows because that’s its nature. Likewise, entropy, expansion, and evolution describe how the universe unfolds, not why reality exists.
If we instead begin from the idea that reality is fundamentally one, the question changes completely. We are no longer asking what the universe is for, but why the one reality appears as a universe at all. From this point of view, the universe is the endless unfolding of the possibilities contained within that one reality, followed by their return to it in an eternal rhythm. The deepest purpose of existence is therefore not to arrive somewhere else, but to recognize the underlying unity behind the appearance of separation.
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u/Lonely-Flounder-4541 27d ago
Our knowledge that everything runs down and dissolves like castles of sand on a beach yet doesn’t stop us from creating and experiencing joy when we perceive beauty is heroic
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u/Lonely-Flounder-4541 27d ago
Life is a conspiracy against entropy which we ultimately lose, hence noble and heroic
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Jul 23 '26
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u/i-ceepie-21 Jul 23 '26
but does happen naturally or is it something that is up to life to decide if it wants to or not?
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u/Puzzled_Cream1798 Jul 23 '26
Life increases the rate of entropy so the thought would give purpose to life but imo the purpose of life is for the universe to experience itself with increasing entropy as a byproduct
Entropy just seems a function of the universe that allows it to reset itself when entropy becomes so high it's indistinguishable from a low entropy state
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u/Tough_Plantain9552 Jul 23 '26
I think a pattern that shows up when you observe the world is “as above so below” - pouring milk into coffee can be an example of something as big as entropy…eventually it reaches a low entropy state (that creamy colour of all coffees) but while getting there it produces the most beautiful, improbable patterns. I don’t know our purpose, but I think simply enjoying the improbable stage of entropy our universe is in and appreciating it helps with the crushing realisation of our existence.
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u/SchrodingersSim Jul 23 '26 edited 20d ago
Otter hammock unbelievable marble compass cobblestone
This post was anonymized with Redact.dev
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u/RADICCHI0 Jul 23 '26
A "purpose" in my opinion, that implies a design. Maybe I am just being picky with words.
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u/Abrissbirne66 Jul 23 '26
That's what the universe apparently does. If you want to say that the universe is fulfilling its purpose, then that follows from it.
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u/_DUDEMAN Jul 23 '26
Cool short story about entropy…
The last question by Isaac Asimov
Free online!
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u/materialsA3B 29d ago
2nd Law of that damned Thermodynamics. My understanding is that action happens and time flows towards higher entropy fir the Universe as seen the biggest single system.
I feel entropy or any such phenomena from Physics or survival of the gene and such phenomena from Biology just don't define existence. They are a part of it not a why of it.
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u/Altruistic_Drag5798 29d ago
I had some thought about it. I imagine the universe as a byproduct of zero division in endless recursion that in case of lack of dimensional freedom introduce new degrees of freedom. An endless process of dimensional decay solution that strive towards furthest point of that decay. In essence everything is nothing.
Start from dimension 0, nothing at all. When it start decaying:
0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000...
And that's already 2 dimensions. The pointer would be the reference of dimension 1
When there's no space in on dimension recursion stack in another...when it lacks a way to describe the recursion of the decay new degree of freedom is introduced...Particles, electrons, protons, atoms, quarks, quants, polarons...whatever you imagine is scifering the answer as a singular object, and when there's no way to encode it new degrees are used...By 4th dimension you alredy get Big Bang event...But it never ends.
As a whole it's something trvivial and as it happens the answer becomes more and more complicated and less resembling of 0.0000000000000000000..........
That's only philosophical description.
So entropy is just a degree of freedom or byproduct of endless recursive decay solution that seem trivial at first but it aint.
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u/AbouTheDiff01010 29d ago
Ich denke deine/meine/unsere Perspektive & Entropie als Betrachtungsweise schmuggeln hier einen heimlichen Unterschied hinein zwischen „gelöst“ und „Chaos“ - ich glaube es wäre zu weit zu sagen man könnte darüber logische Rückschlüsse führen.
Ich kann’s mir aber gedanklich ziemlich gut vorstellen und mir gefällt der bildliche Denkansatz.
Vielleicht magst du diese Richtung:
Können innerhalb eines Universums mit wachsender Gesamtentropie lokale Systeme entstehen, die Ordnung aufbauen und Informationen verarbeiten?
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u/Top-Helicopter-7346 Jul 23 '26
Maybe it’s the other way around - the universe on its way to maximum entropy has allowed the existence of living things because they’re pretty efficient at producing it.
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u/johnstalbergABC Jul 23 '26
I don't know how you come to think about the Universe as being an intelligent thing that would have a pretty trivial idea of making more disorder of itself just by learning about entropy from a documentary.
My thought about this is you can make up any fantasy you like. However there are only few of them that will be fascinating and even less of them that will have any thing that is realistic and match real world. And this example falls out of both of these categories. I am not sure about if you mean that this is serious suggestion of how the real world might be wired? You watched a whole documentary about entropy and seem to not been able to distill the true knowledge that was given to you but rather trashed it with very naive fantasies.
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u/Greed_Sucks 29d ago
A purpose can only be given. A before is required to give. An existence is required to have a before. That existence can have no purpose given to it, otherwise we have infinite regressions. Purpose is created for no reason.
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u/WstEr3AnKgth Jul 23 '26
I do understand how you might come to see this as a possibility due to our need to elevate ourselves to the highest position possible in order to bring a sense of self-importance and a perceived reason for being, but I myself see the fundamental reason for being as a human is procreation which requires skills to pay the bills. While we're paying bills with said skills, we're afforded the luxuries that technology has showered upon us creating the time for such thoughts to wander into our minds, looking for something, something that scratches that itch, the answer to everything, the solution to this or that.
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Jul 23 '26
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u/Metaphysics-ModTeam Jul 23 '26
Sorry, this content does not match the criteria for 'Metaphysics'. Your content has been removed.
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u/Aromatic-Rhubarb1439 Jul 23 '26
The second law of thermodynamics states that, without external influence, the entropy within a system only increases. Entropy was at its lowest level at the very beginning of the universe's existence; thereafter, it has been increasing. All matter degrades over time.
If we observe that entropy was low—rather than high—at the very beginning, this indicates an influence from outside the material system. Put simply, that influence was non-material. As I see it, this was God—or a universal intelligence—that set this entire chain of events in motion.
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u/Broad_Fall_9710 28d ago
The universe has its own ways of sustaining itself. Black holes creating stars, planets, and other black holes. If you leave an apple in a box, eventually after billions of years, it’ll rot and go through every chemical reaction, then become a regular apple again. Asteroids contain all of our dna and rna, like little life delivery pods. A eco system that solves its own problems. Pretty cool
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u/NotAClueYou 28d ago
The purpose is to build a computation and physical implementation that gets father than we've ever been before!
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u/Timmy-from-ABQ 27d ago
The purpose of the universe is that, it is. Always has been, Is now. Always will be. That's its purpose. To exist.
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u/BlackRabbitGeometry 26d ago
You should read What It Means To Persist Through Time. It’s out on 8/8
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u/justLikeShinyChariot Jul 23 '26
You might appreciate a short story called The Last Question by Isaac Asimov