There is no such thing as nothing. Feat Penn Badgley
Summary
Penn Badgley has a bold take: there is no such thing as nothing. Everything is something. When Kareem pushes back with the example of closing your eyes and seeing black, the You star calls that "a profound something" and argues that we use the word "nothing" in ways that dismiss the incredible existence of everything around us. The conversation spirals into Big Bang territory. Badgley theorizes that if nothing was so pervasive before the Big Bang that nothing could exist within it, that's actually "the equivalent of 100% something." Kareem struggles to keep up with the philosophical plane Badgley's operating on. "This is what you get when you don't go to any school," Kareem jokes.
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Full Transcript
So, what's your take? There is no such thing as nothing. 100% disagree. Look. Okay. All right. Something. No, I'm saying there's no such thing as nothing.
Oh, so everything is something? Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, so I was so I do 100%. I think you 100% agree. Try to conceptualize of nothing in any manner. Try, try to describe it.
Just black. Like when you close your eyes. Oh wow. That's a profound something. Oh my goodness. Wait. So I do 100% agree. There is no such thing as nothing. Everything is something. We use the word in a way that I think undermines our ability to conceive of a brighter future. We use the word nothing.
Yeah. We, we say there's nothing there. We learn to use the word in a way that I think dismisses the incredible existence of, of everything. Maybe it is a defense mechanism that we are using to avoid the something.
Yeah. I think on one hand that is what it is. Only on one hand? Yeah. I mean, cuz even the vacuum of space, you know, I mean, I just think like there's, there must be some kind of nothing.
Yes. I just think that in science the possibilities are limitless and endless. So if I, if Stephen Hawking was here right here with us, RIP, he would probably say like, "I don't know. We'll have to Google it." Audience, you Google it. There must be a theory of nothing. This part I have thought about.
Well, he's thought about it. If there was a nothing so, um, pervasive that within it nothing could exist. That is the equivalent of something so oppressively existing because it doesn't permit for existence. You know what I mean?
No, I don't. I'm trying to follow. I want to be more in cahoots with you. I be, I want to be on your level. You're existing on a, a plane of vibes that is very difficult to achieve. That's a, that's flattering. That's flattering. If we think of like, you know, the Big Bang, what was before it? They say nothing. But so that nothing would have been so pervasive that nothing existed, which is to say that it's such a complete and total and universal oppression of existence that that's the equivalent of like 100% something. That's, you know what I mean? It's like, it's like it's not nothing at all. And also, I don't know that's even true. Either way, there's no such thing as nothing.
Dr. Pen and Dr. Pen, this is what you get when you don't go to any school.