However, I am not entirely at ease with virtual particles as an example of something from nothing. Presumably the vacuum energy is a sine qua non of the popping in and out of existence that these virtual particles do, and the vacuum energy seems to be something.
Well, that is what I mean about QM seeming to be totally insane. The vacuum energy is indeed associated with the virtual particles popping in and out. But we have no real experience with something happening at random that way. While we see things happen that we didn't expect, we still figure there must have been something to cause them. But the virtual particles really do seem to happen just because they do. They are to be expected from a study of QM, but at the same time they are some of the results of QM that seem totally insane. So I guess what I am saying is that yes, the vacuum energy is something, but there is nothing in our "real world" experience that can explain where it comes from in a vacuum, where there is supposed to be nothing. Now I hope you feel some of my frustration at trying to figure out what I am talking about. I sometimes have a problems figuring out what I am talking about myself.
Bill Gill
