# What does it take for things to exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 18, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373 "2014-04-18T00:07:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![androidbeepboop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@androidbeepboop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/androidbeepboop)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/1 "2014-04-18T00:07:26Z")
I made this video on the fundamental basis of reality. Starting with the observation that physical bits of matter are no more than configurations of information (the argument for this is in part I, I’m linking to part II), we proceed to the root of the existence of information: logic, and the necessary and natural form it automatically takes. I hope you’ll find it interesting, whether you ultimately agree or disagree: URL removed. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/2 "2014-04-18T00:24:31Z")
Nope, not gonna watch. How about you tell us your thoughts and we can talk then? ---
**Author:** ![androidbeepboop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@androidbeepboop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/androidbeepboop)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/3 "2014-04-18T00:33:33Z")
Haha, that’s kind of what the video’s designed to do. Here’s a link to the script, if you’d URL Removed ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/4 "2014-04-18T00:41:43Z")
No one wants to watch your video or read your script. Since you want to present your ideas in GD then you need to type them out and defend them. Best of luck. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/5 "2014-04-18T02:53:41Z")
The SDMB operates pretty much at the paragraph level, with links to cites. But you have to start with a paragraph or two (please, not too much!) as an intro. I do think you have a good point regarding “information.” In a Holodeck, for instance, where there isn’t any real concrete “thing” for one to encounter, “things” still have a kind of existence. You could say the same is true, in a way, for dreams. The objects in a dream have a tenuous kind of existence, insofar as they interact with our minds. Ideas have a loose kind of existence. However, information can’t exist without energy, and energy is the same as matter, so, when you come down to it in the end, some physical and material substrate is necessary for anything to exist. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/6 "2014-04-18T03:14:38Z")
To be the value of a bound variable. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/7 "2014-04-18T05:32:17Z")
> [@androidbeepboop](#): > > Haha, that’s kind of what the video’s designed to do. To be harshly blunt, you don’t have the credibility on an anonymous message board to convince people it’s worth their time to watch a video in order to figure out if you have a worthwhile message. You should summarize your message down to a few paragraphs and make it available for people to review in a reasonably short period of time. Then they can decide if it’s wroth further investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/8 "2014-04-18T06:40:31Z")
Warning: the link to the script goes to an automatic downloader, which shoves a .pdf file into a visitor’s system. This is extremely discourteous. An html window with visible text would have been okay, but forced downloads are really, really rude. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/9 "2014-04-18T06:58:33Z")
You clicked on a blind link posted by a guy who just recently joined in order to share his insight into the fundamental basis of reality? I’m surprised your computer isn’t a burning heap and you haven’t been attacked by your toaster frankly 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/10 "2014-04-18T07:01:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > To be harshly blunt, you don’t have the credibility on an anonymous message board to convince people it’s worth their time to watch a video in order to figure out if you have a worthwhile message. Forget that. He doesn’t have the credibility that we’re not going to infect our computers with a virus!! Reported. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/11 "2014-04-18T08:54:34Z")
It didn’t try to get me to download anything… But it doesn’t exactly start off strong. Just reading slightly into it, it does not follow from his definition of information that all matter is nothing but information; information by his definition is a necessary part but not inherently the whole. Plus, I’m kind of wondering why I should care about his definition. Like, I care about the definition in computer science because it has some very strong real-world applications, but this… I dunno. I decided not to read further because it just blathers on and on with extremely abstract arguments without ever really getting to a _point_. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/12 "2014-04-18T10:09:04Z")
Androidbeepboop- Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board. Feel free to browse the various fora and join in discussions. Be aware that in Great Debates our practice is to present arguments within posts and not to link to outside documents other than as citations to support points. Even then custom is to summarize the supporting information. I’ve removed your links. Feel free to make you position known within a post to continue the discussion. Jonathan Chance Moderator Great Debates ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/13 "2014-04-24T20:12:45Z")
LOL. The OP can’t even prove his video exists.😃 ---
**Author:** ![trabajabamos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/47e85d/32.png) [@trabajabamos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trabajabamos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/14 "2014-04-24T20:22:02Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > LOL. The OP can’t even prove his video exists.😃 If information is existence, as the OP would have you believe, the video exists simply because you know about it. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/15 "2014-04-24T22:21:50Z")
Something else. _principleofsufficientreasonpwned_ ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-take-for-things-to-exist/686373/16 "2014-04-25T06:07:32Z")
This all makes more sense if you realize [the OP is a mailman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXe4aV7y7eY).