Why something exists rather than nothing is a fundamental question of metaphysics because it doesn’t assume anything about matter, God, or the laws of physics. Russell’s answer, in a radio debate in 1948, was that the existence of our universe is just a brute fact:
“I should say that the universe is just there, and that’s all.” (see Copleston vs. Russell).
In his view, the universe just is and that’s it, so science at the time assumed it always was, until the evidence showed that it actually began about fourteen billion years ago in a big bang. This re-raised the question of why it exists because what always was can be a brute fact, but what began needs a cause as nothing can come from nothing.
Science now accepts that at some point in the past, an enormous amount of energy was injected into a small space, that not only expanded into our universe but also created our space and time. It was as if a switch clicked and a world began, leading to the idea popularized by the Matrix movie that our reality is a simulation.
QR5.7.1. The Simulation Hypothesis
QR5.7.2. Why Evolution?
QR5.7.3. Why Virtual?