Presented by Zia H Shah MD

Here, I quote Paul Davies from his book, What is Eating the Universe, from the chapter, Can the Universe Come from Nothing?:

Explanations for the origin of the universe based on physical laws, like that of Hartle and Hawking, tacitly assume that the laws are in some sense ‘already there’ to permit the universe to come out of nothing. Some sceptics say, ‘Oh, so the universe didn’t come from nothing, after all. The laws of physics were there before the big bang!’ But that’s not really true since there was no ‘before’. It’s more accurate to say that the laws of physics transcend space and time; they exist in a mathematical realm that is not part of the physical universe. Some distinguished scientists do indeed take that position. They argue that in the matter of existence, the set of physical laws are the primary entity and have within them universe-creating capabilities. Others disagree and deny that one can think of laws as ‘things’ that exist independently of the physical universe. They reason that the laws of physics are relationships between physical things that necessarily exist only after the origin of the universe. But you can’t have it both ways. Either unexplained laws are already ‘out there’ and account for how the physical cosmos (lawfully) appeared spontaneously from nothing, or laws + universe together burst into being ready-made – a joint package of marvels with no explanation whatsoever. It’s Catch 22.