# \[Can a person imagine or conceive of \]"Nothing"\[?\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 3, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189 "2010-05-03T18:21:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/1 "2010-05-03T18:21:50Z")
Can a person imagine or conceive of “Nothing”? If you try to think about it doesn’t it become Something? Also, is “Nothing” unstable, thus creating the Universe? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/2 "2010-05-03T18:24:57Z")
I still have trouble wrapping my brain around the idea that the universe is overwhelmingly empty. I can’t remember the number but it’s like on average one atom exists within every few meters of space or something like that. I know it’s true but it’s hard to conceptualize “nothing” in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/3 "2010-05-03T19:24:22Z")
Since this is more a philosophical question than a factual one, it’s better suited for GD than GQ. I have also edited the title to indicate the subject. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/4 "2010-05-03T20:16:18Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Can a person imagine or conceive of “Nothing”? Yes > [@](#): > > If you try to think about it doesn’t it become Something? No > [@](#): > > Also, is “Nothing” unstable, thus creating the Universe? You can’t assign properties like “unstable” to Nothing. But Nothing is not the opposite of Universe, if that’s what you meant. I mean, here I am, in the Universe, and I can hold Nothing in my head. But no new Universe pops into being in my head. Not that I’ve noticed, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/5 "2010-05-03T20:20:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Can a person imagine or conceive of “Nothing”? Of course not. Nothing is Sacred. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/6 "2010-05-03T20:25:26Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Can a person imagine or conceive of “Nothing”? If you try to think about it doesn’t it become Something? Also, is “Nothing” unstable, thus creating the Universe? Nothing is the contents of the empty set - that is, the stuff between the braces: {}. The empty set _itself_ is indeed something, but it’s not the same as nothing: the set containing the empty set is { {} } (note the difference). One doesn’t become the other spontaneously. Or at least it doesn’t in terms of set theory. I don’t know the rules regarding empty space-time continuums. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/7 "2010-05-03T21:49:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Of course not. > > Nothing is Sacred. Is that you, Gahan? ---
**Author:** ![I\_know\_nothing\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d78d45/32.png) [@I\_know\_nothing\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_know_nothing_1)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/8 "2010-05-03T22:15:59Z")
If thinking of nothing automatically makes something does thinking of something automatically make nothing? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/9 "2010-05-04T05:16:59Z")
Would you folks please stop that? Every time one of you thinks of Nothing, a new universe pops into my bedroom closet. I’m running out of places to put them. ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/10 "2010-05-04T05:27:32Z")
What are you thinking about when you think of “nothing?” I see the word “nothing,” which is certainly something. It is a representation of the concept of “nothing.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/11 "2010-05-04T05:41:47Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > But Nothing is not the opposite of Universe, if that’s what you meant. Actually, that sounds like a pretty good description. (I mean, consider all the stuff around you: planets and people and seas and sand, anything, _ **everything** _ – what’s the conceptual opposite of that?) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/12 "2010-05-04T05:47:54Z")
I’ll give it a shot. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/13 "2010-05-04T06:37:03Z")
> [@I\_know\_nothing\_1](#): > > If thinking of nothing automatically makes something does thinking of something automatically make nothing? You would be the one to know. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/14 "2010-05-04T10:01:24Z")
Nothing isn’t that hard. Trying to conceptualize the universe before time started, now that’s tricky. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/15 "2010-05-04T12:21:44Z")
I miss George Carlin. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/16 "2010-05-04T12:31:08Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Of course not. > Nothing is Sacred. Every sperm is. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnyMac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@JohnnyMac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyMac)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/17 "2010-05-04T12:47:32Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > What are you thinking about when you think of “nothing?” I see the word “nothing,” which is certainly something. It is a representation of the concept of “nothing.” I see black empty space. I guess I’m really thinking of “space” and not “nothing”. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/18 "2010-05-04T14:09:46Z")
Right. The trick is to conceptualize a void, not empty space. I don’t know if I’m doing it right, but I think I rather can. It helps when I try to do some physics thought experiments. I also spent a summer trying to visualize things four-dimensionally. I got pretty good at seeing all sides of a model at once in my head. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/19 "2010-05-04T16:45:52Z")
> [@JohnnyMac](#): > > I see black empty space. I guess I’m really thinking of “space” and not “nothing”. Out of curiousity, what’s the difference between “space” and “nothing”? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189/20 "2010-05-04T16:59:51Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Out of curiousity, what’s the difference between “space” and “nothing”? To me, space has the ability to contain something. Nothing does not. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-imagine-or-conceive-of-nothing/538189.md?page=2)