menu Home chevron_right
PHILOSOPHY

9 Questions Atheists CANNOT Answer – With @unsolicitedadvice9198

Alex O'Connor | January 26, 2026



Try AG1 today: https://www.drinkAG1.com/withinreason

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com

To donate to my PayPal (thank you): http://www.paypal.me/cosmicskeptic

– VIDEO NOTES

Joe Folley runs the YouTube channel Unsolicited Advice @unsolicitedadvice9198 – he graduated from Cambridge University with an MPhil in Philosophy, specialising in logic, in 2023.

Watch my previous episode with Joe: https://youtu.be/6bJk00UM_9o?si=1E32qj1IVpzUx28Y

– TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
32:20 Atheists Can’t Answer ‘Why’ Questions
40:59 Atheists Can’t Get an ‘Ought’ From An ‘Is’
59:05 How to Explain Sensus Divinitatus
1:14:23 Why Has Atheism Never Worked on a Civilisational Level?
1:23:41 Trusting Human Rationality as a Guide to Truth
1:38:05 Where Do the Laws of Logic Come From?
1:53:00 What is Consciousness?
2:13:14 How Atheists Respond to Fine-Tuning

– CONNECT

My Website: https://www.alexoconnor.com

SOCIAL LINKS:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cosmicskeptic
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cosmicskeptic
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic
TikTok: @CosmicSkeptic

The Within Reason Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/within-reason/id1458675168

– CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

——————————————

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , .

Written by Alex O'Connor

Comments

This post currently has 48 comments.

  3. @TheSynisterMinister

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    1:07:30 can't wait to filter this podcast in the future with AI to make the voices speaking a surfer talking to a stoner. "Paul didn't get pussy bro. And he was chill with that. He's like. Dog. If you gonna fuck you gotta put a ring on it bro. Jesus probably didn't bust either dude. Whack."

  4. @TheSynisterMinister

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    When I think of nothing. I would have to not think at all. Like after death of my brain or before its formation. There was Nothing to percieve reality. And even now. My perception could be wrong. When you die. Nothing returns

  9. @eugroe

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    ''You ought to tidy the garden'' does not imply the existence of a garden, it implies that the speaker thinks there is a garden. It could be that it's a field and the speaker is stupid, could also be that the speaker assumes there's a garden due to other contextual ques like the house being large

  10. @beor2193

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    A different question is if you change variables, our world isn't possible, but you should be able to set everything for a world to be possible.

  11. @beor2193

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    It's odd, as you can make up stuff like invisibility or invulnerability or any other non existing thing, and desire that. Humans bond to things and recognise patterns in many-many things, wether it is so or not. Like religious figures on toast.

  12. @MrFreakHeavy

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    I just thought Nothing (true nothing) is a paradoxial existance. If nothing exists then it must be something, thus nothing cannot exist. Unless, the only way nothing can exist is if Something exist. In a way, Something existing is a preservation of the "status quo" of "existance." And so if Nothing exists, something must necessarily exist. We can also assume that nothing is basal "existance" of all. Thefore, at it's base, the causality of things is that Nothing creates Something just by "existing" or by "not-existing." And because Something is all that isn't Nothing and thefore all that there is, then Something must be Everything.
    Nothing -> Everything.
    The Universe exists.
    The real conundrum is why does the Universe has the properties that it does? I cannot think of a logical resolution to this, except the Universe comes about parsimoniously, the simplist kind of properties that can exist, one thing leads to another and all dominoes end up as they are; there was simply no other way for the universe to be but as is, and any other possibility would have required some kind of "hand" to manipulate

  13. @TheSpiritspeak

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    5:55 i think what zola jesus said in her song " lick the palm of the burning handshake" speaks to this..

    "The need to know it takes you over
    Takes you over
    The need to grow it take you under
    Take you under
    It bares the keeping of resistance
    To the listen again and again
    It takes you over again and again"

    in other words, the desire to be sure (or rather, feel sure) is the poison in ones thinking, from the first sip.

    until one becomes cozy with the idea that there are things we simply cannot be certain about, then they will fill those gaps one way or another. Often swapping religion for spirituality, or the other way around. Presupposing that this desire is a need to be met.

    yet once we abandon this flawed starting point, then we become free to not only look at what we can know, but also to entertain speculative thought while understanding the difference.

    between maybe vs certainty.

  15. @Dredgeon

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    If we make artificial life it will be essentially a child of the human race. In fact I've found myself intrigued by the idea of sort of raising an artificial intelligence and guiding the development of an artificial mind

  17. @kirbinator5000

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    Here’s a question an atheist can’t answer: “what’s it like to live as if your existence has objective meaning and purpose and that life doesn’t just end at the grave?”

  18. @The-lost-lobaX_x

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    When you have a child you no longer have to sit around and discuss the answer to something or nothing, as you presently are both asking this question in advance of the experience of being present to the creation of a human child, and in that moment the opportunity to experience and feel what is needed to have access to a sound answer as to whether there is something or nothing…and you will find that there is something, and that something will be individually experienced by you and only you in the moment for to have access to the true sound answer, NO longer judging in advance of the experience, the experience needed to know what something is….the expression of love in physical form that resonates, breathes and illuminates their own spark and light for all to be humbled by

  22. @stuartsmith4430

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    This video came into my feed after the US operation to seize Maduro and it strikes me that Hegseth, Rubio or Trump have not considered these questions or their like; and that, maybe, if they had then they would show a bit more humility. From which I conclude that the value of considering questions like this is not to come to an answer but, rather, to recognise that there will always be limits to what we know, what we can understand, what we can predict and that those limits should moderate our actions.

  23. @josuemorgado2975

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    What about the concept of having a new thought? Would that be an example of “something out of nothing”? If this is not true would this mean that every thought has already been thought by someone? What about going back to creating language… was it all already somewhere in us with creation? Does this make sense

  24. @dave4148

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    To me something rather than nothing is more like: why isn’t the universe an infinite perfect vacuum, ie why does matter exist and secondarily: why is there not more or less matter/energy in the universe

  25. @TheKyoput

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    I've always found the "something instead of nothing" debate to be really boring. Ever since it was made clear to me that space is expanding, but it isn't expanding into anything, I've found the idea of nothing to be irrelevant. Space is all there is. It's all we know. It is all we will ever know. It is creating more of itself as it expands. There is no "nothing" in space. There is something because there always has been something. Nothing is a fun thing to talk about, but it isn't real. It's nothing. For me, the bigger, brighter question has always been, what the fuck is space. Can space exist without matter? Can matter exist without space?

  26. @KyLoxoxo

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    I used to think about "nothing" to fall asleep. It usually started with me speaking the word nothing internally. Naturally my brain starts questioning what is nothing. If i am thinking about it is nothing actually something and unable to describe itself. If so then nothing is impossible. The lack thereof. Empty space but is empty space now something because we can contextualize it name it decribe it beyond the word nothing. Then I'd picture a dark world everything void of color like the back of my eyelids at night completely blacked out. Eventually all mental gymnastics led me to belive I cannot think of nothing. Be completely void of thought no matter what when I'm awake I cannot experience nothingness. Is this normal then ?

  27. @JustDags

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    Nothing seems to be the same as non existence. Asking if there’s a possible world where there is nothing just sounds like it could be reworded to “is it possible for a world that doesn’t exist to exist?” And that just sounds like an obvious no.

  28. @torrent785

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    Just watching two guy's steelman Theism while cherry picking philosophical arguments that can not coexistence together.

    What is the most missed mark is this Armenian argument that man is the point of Faith which creates the Cartesian Circle. A place to look would be Author Pink's Attributes of God. To summarize God is Law, God is Grace, God gives Faith. When God is given the starting point of Faith the circle is closed.

    If you are going to this strong of a philosophical your ammo from a theist side needs to be just as strong. Author Pink and John Calvin deserve the same attention.

  29. @Zep927

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    15:34 Oh I do have a scientific kind of perspective. Does that not work in philosophy?
    There is nothing state AND a something state inherent in all. The condition in which is experienced by us as something creates another condition in which one whom could experience such a thing as "no thing" comes to be.
    And the reason why is because infinity exists so given enough opportunity, all must, right? Idk

  30. @Zep927

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    4:59 I'd argue there is something because there is nothing, not in spite of it. Theres something, to us, because it would be weird to be creatures that sense things in a space which is not sensible.
    What is nothing? Its absence, but only in place of something.
    In order to have an ex-girlfriend, you must have had a girlfriend, otherwise its just a girl? I dunno something like this.

  32. @FinLogan

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    I think what you mean by "no one can answer why there is something instead of nothing" is just that no one can explain it scientifically, right? Because religion (or at least mine) is pretty direct about it and addressed regularly

  33. @mikec3652

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    "Why?" is an invalid question to ask of the universe, because "why" implies agency/purpose.

    "Why is a mountain?" is a nonsensical question.

    We can ask "how is there something rather than nothing", but not "why". Asking "why" of the universe creates an incompatible question.

  35. @lovatOVero

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    Yeah the Ontology undermining epistomology is what keeps me up at night too…
    How do we know what we know?
    How do we know it's the truth? Is truth determined only by rationality?
    The cartesian circular problem😅
    Materialistic rationalities undermines conceptual ideas
    Why do you believe in something because you reasoned your way into it, but the thing you just reasoned your way into has undermine your ability to trust the reasoning process you've used to reason into it😅ughhh my brian hurts already.
    Believing in something undercuts the reasons you have for believing in something,like they said its a vicious and virtuous circle

  39. @ReubenVarte-q7e

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    To the first Question:… it's not unanswerable.., Why is there something rather than Nothing? It's simple. There was always Something. The very question presupposes that you became aware of Nothing first… but how could nothing be given to you? Nothing means the absence of something. Also… our container model of Space influenced how we imagine Nothing to be…. but I still think being a container void is still describable and is "Something"… Nothing would be the absence of any such characteristics describable…

  40. @tripleA_books

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    anybody have any recommendations for theists of this intellectual level? i’m trying to listen to the best people of both sides but my yt has learned i’m atheist and doesn’t give me anything when i search for christian/theist content

  44. @tenneywiley859

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    Adversarial prompting must also be approached with awareness. You can ask for adversarial critique and it will give you just that, but as much as you need domain expertise to validate meaningful work, you also need domain expertise to know that the “adversarial output” is as meaningful as the solutions being sought. If you ask, then it will respond, regardless of the prompt. An LLM will “seek” to echo communicate with white noise.

  46. @ThePiiX

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    The fine tuning argument triggers me so hard…. You guys may just be so astonished that if R was something other than 1 and Pi was other than "3.1415926.." and the circle's diameter wasn't 6.28.. to the Nth place there couldn't be a unit circle. Why does no one even mention that ?

  47. @jessebaldo9503

    January 26, 2026 at 5:57 am

    Wow i'm surprised alex didn't immiediently understand that the reason the universe, made for humans to exist in Balances on a knifes edge becaues its also made for Gods Glory
    And what better way to show his invisible attributes to humans as God says he does in the bible, he says if you look at creation you can find him, you can find out that there is a God and his attributes in creation, God made the universe with precision because its a love letter to humanity and he is reaching out saying With out me NOTHING would BE! Why would he make it in such a way that you couldnt find him? Hes not hiding, its the logical conclusion not the one we should question, Yes razors edge is the best way for God to wink at humanity , he says we will be without excuse, he laid it all out there in creation, Heck besides the sun lighting the day and a light to govern the night made of relfective sand that is so reflective it perfectly shines the sun light back to us, ok science just goes ah but this probably happened this way or that way, ok God put the sun and moon perfect distance to create a VERY UNIQUE eclipse razors edge if you will to see the corona of the sun, and the anwer to that is OH we just look for causality and patters in probalbly common things, but thats just it , its not common , the assumption is that it might be given the trillions plus galaxies out there yet as of now ours is the only one , and other planets dont even come close…. The distance is real also , these distances arent common, they are like plot points, the moon could have done any one of them slightly off and we would still be here but the sun would not be covered to ever see the corona only and amazing visual Cap that fits enough to study the rim of the sun poking out, I'm sorry but precisons within precision suggest Order not out of chaos but dictation, these laws even repeat themselves at our scale, we witness that all things with value must first be created by something creating it , Trees and Co2, life with life, humans as image bearers of God , common sad mistake is looking at us as the same catagory as animals this is not a dig at evolution, the point is we are made in Gods image and can CREATE , actually create , not in the way other animals "create" but with intention beyond , with a sepcial spark , set apart from animals, above and the head of animals , we create laws and govern as God does in heaven to us, we are not God but we do govern the earth, we make and create music/ art/ biological tools using What God already created, we do many insane things yet insist we are eh just animals somehow its just us that got here not any other species , yet we are the same catagory, no!
    My point about creating things is that we see the law of creation in ourselves, the universe and our own bodies and other animals mere production of chemstry level bombs / poisons, need to exist before creating thigns, We as humans know complicated structures need us to create them, buildings will never show up in rock formations with stainglass windows or tapered glass and the earth will never build the cistine chapel , a deck of cards wont appaer etc etc, But we've found a way around the human eye, the brain, the orgas working together , 2 sexes somehow coming into existence from some thing that needed to be one thing, the egg, the embryo oh that was probably just a virus (true story , thats the new theory) that infected pregnant women etc etc. …

    To me its just GAH!!!

    THERES A GOD!

    AND GAHHHH

    At the very LEAST you have no room to mock us, You know we arent being irrational in our faith or claim to say we KNOW he exists
    its part of our faith. its obvious that we have ground to not be called ignorant, less than etc, its the west that lost the ah and wonder
    when the night sky was always visible, it allowed people to look up ad see the galaxy we live in and just intrinsically taught us the

    foolishness in believing all of this was not of God when we are here, Instead we made ourselves Gods because if he doesnt exist , than we are
    conscious creators and God since we actually exist. We'd be a version of him, But no We woke up and this was all already here, We cant claim someone else work, we are literally looking at ALLLLL OF THIS, and REASONED OURSELVES out of believing in an intelligent designer while we exist on a much lesser scale and the first thing we do IS CREATE LOL

Comments are closed.

Related
What Is Nostalgia & Why Is It So Important?
Pursuit of Wonder | April 17, 2026
Related
Steven Pinker on Language | Big Think
Big Think | April 17, 2026
Related
4 Ways of Thinking About Abstract Objects – Philosophy Tube
Philosophy Tube | April 17, 2026

This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

Go to album
  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play