I disagree. It could be detected as an abrupt stop in history or reality. And so it's ruled out entirely as a possibility at any point after inflation.
I'm not sure what you mean here, but I'm intrigued.
True nothingness is an illogical term. I don't believe it can be wrestled with even philosophically.
What you describe as an "abrubt stop" would be indicated by an
abrupt change. Change implies time, and since no time can pass through "nothingness," the statement self-implodes. Similarly, all of history could be dotted with "periods" of nothingness, with the universe "returning" at the same point it exited. This statement is meaningless as well, because we could claim that nothingness "coexists" with reality on a linear scale.
We can imagine the universe alternately "popping out of and back into" existence, but again, such a thought implies the passage of time, and in the context of nothingness, is nonsensical.
Nothingness is completely contrary to what we know and are: existence. As such, any attempt to conceptualize nothingness cannot be undertaken.
The closest to nothingness I can imagine is my existence. I can say that I "experienced" nothingness before I was born, and I will "experience" it again after death, but I trust you see the difficulty with such ideas.
