full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jim Holt: Why does the universe exist?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Why does the universe exist? Why is there — Okay. Okay. (Laughter) This is a ciomsc mystery. Be solemn. Why is there a world, why are we in it, and why is there something rather than nothing at all? I mean, this is the super ultimate "why" question?

So I'm going to talk about the mystery of existence, the puzzle of existence, where we are now in addressing it, and why you should care, and I hope you do care. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said that those who don't wonder about the contingency of their existence, of the contingency of the world's existence, are mentally deficient. That's a little harsh, but still. (Laughter) So this has been called the most sublime and awesome mystery, the deepest and most far-reaching question man can pose. It's obsessed gaert thinkers. luidwg Wittgenstein, perhaps the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, was astonished that there should be a world at all. He worte in his "Tractatus," Proposition 4.66, "It is not how things are in the world that is the mystical, it's that the world exists." And if you don't like taking your epigrams from a posehiplhor, try a scientist. John Archibald weelher, one of the great physicists of the 20th century, the tceaehr of Richard Feynman, the coiner of the term "black hole," he said, "I want to know how come the quantum, how come the universe, how come eecitxsne?" And my friend Martin Amis — sorry that I'll be doing a lot of name-dropping in this talk, so get used to it — my dear friend mtiarn Amis once said that we're about five Einsteins away from answering the mstryey of where the universe came from. And I've no doubt there are five enisinets in the audience tonight. Any Einsteins? Show of hnads? No? No? No? No Einsteins? Okay.

Open Cloze


Why does the universe exist? Why is there — Okay. Okay. (Laughter) This is a ______ mystery. Be solemn. Why is there a world, why are we in it, and why is there something rather than nothing at all? I mean, this is the super ultimate "why" question?

So I'm going to talk about the mystery of existence, the puzzle of existence, where we are now in addressing it, and why you should care, and I hope you do care. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said that those who don't wonder about the contingency of their existence, of the contingency of the world's existence, are mentally deficient. That's a little harsh, but still. (Laughter) So this has been called the most sublime and awesome mystery, the deepest and most far-reaching question man can pose. It's obsessed _____ thinkers. ______ Wittgenstein, perhaps the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, was astonished that there should be a world at all. He _____ in his "Tractatus," Proposition 4.66, "It is not how things are in the world that is the mystical, it's that the world exists." And if you don't like taking your epigrams from a ___________, try a scientist. John Archibald _______, one of the great physicists of the 20th century, the _______ of Richard Feynman, the coiner of the term "black hole," he said, "I want to know how come the quantum, how come the universe, how come _________?" And my friend Martin Amis — sorry that I'll be doing a lot of name-dropping in this talk, so get used to it — my dear friend ______ Amis once said that we're about five Einsteins away from answering the _______ of where the universe came from. And I've no doubt there are five _________ in the audience tonight. Any Einsteins? Show of _____? No? No? No? No Einsteins? Okay.

Solution


  1. philosopher
  2. ludwig
  3. wheeler
  4. mystery
  5. martin
  6. einsteins
  7. existence
  8. hands
  9. cosmic
  10. wrote
  11. teacher
  12. great

Original Text


Why does the universe exist? Why is there — Okay. Okay. (Laughter) This is a cosmic mystery. Be solemn. Why is there a world, why are we in it, and why is there something rather than nothing at all? I mean, this is the super ultimate "why" question?

So I'm going to talk about the mystery of existence, the puzzle of existence, where we are now in addressing it, and why you should care, and I hope you do care. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said that those who don't wonder about the contingency of their existence, of the contingency of the world's existence, are mentally deficient. That's a little harsh, but still. (Laughter) So this has been called the most sublime and awesome mystery, the deepest and most far-reaching question man can pose. It's obsessed great thinkers. Ludwig Wittgenstein, perhaps the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, was astonished that there should be a world at all. He wrote in his "Tractatus," Proposition 4.66, "It is not how things are in the world that is the mystical, it's that the world exists." And if you don't like taking your epigrams from a philosopher, try a scientist. John Archibald Wheeler, one of the great physicists of the 20th century, the teacher of Richard Feynman, the coiner of the term "black hole," he said, "I want to know how come the quantum, how come the universe, how come existence?" And my friend Martin Amis — sorry that I'll be doing a lot of name-dropping in this talk, so get used to it — my dear friend Martin Amis once said that we're about five Einsteins away from answering the mystery of where the universe came from. And I've no doubt there are five Einsteins in the audience tonight. Any Einsteins? Show of hands? No? No? No? No Einsteins? Okay.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
quantum field 4
friend martin 2
martin amis 2
book called 2
lawrence thinks 2
physical laws 2
field theory 2
primitive view 2
intermediate realities 2
generic realities 2
infinite number 2
special reality 2
nasty bits 2
nice bits 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
friend martin amis 2
quantum field theory 2

Important Words


  1. addressing
  2. amis
  3. answering
  4. archibald
  5. arthur
  6. astonished
  7. audience
  8. awesome
  9. called
  10. care
  11. century
  12. coiner
  13. contingency
  14. cosmic
  15. dear
  16. deepest
  17. deficient
  18. doubt
  19. einsteins
  20. epigrams
  21. exist
  22. existence
  23. exists
  24. feynman
  25. friend
  26. great
  27. greatest
  28. hands
  29. harsh
  30. hole
  31. hope
  32. john
  33. laughter
  34. lot
  35. ludwig
  36. man
  37. martin
  38. mentally
  39. mystery
  40. mystical
  41. obsessed
  42. philosopher
  43. physicists
  44. pose
  45. proposition
  46. puzzle
  47. quantum
  48. question
  49. richard
  50. schopenhauer
  51. scientist
  52. show
  53. solemn
  54. sublime
  55. super
  56. talk
  57. teacher
  58. term
  59. thinkers
  60. tonight
  61. ultimate
  62. universe
  63. wheeler
  64. wittgenstein
  65. world
  66. wrote