What Was Here Before the Beginning? [Big Bang, Cosmology]

RedNova.com ^ | 06 January 2005 | Martin Rees & Helen Matsos

[ProudVet77]

Sorry, she's the only thing I could think of old enough to be there before the big bang. :)

[RightWhale]

Descartes used to lie in bed until eleven, just lie there and think. When he finally got an appointment to a real job that required he be up at five AM, he got sick and died almost immediately.

[konaice]

and, there is no way to see or move to the other twigs. This is where we might speculate that the twigs are linked after all, but through the extraspatial dimensions that we still can't deal with in the lab.

Yes, hard to think about even.

Most helpful thing in even thinking about this stuff is the little book called Flatland, by Edwin Abbott. The whole of which is on line here Flatland

[PatrickHenry]

Y'know, the correct answer to the question might well be "None of your business."

The universe is my business.

[PatrickHenry]

How do you guys do it...I mean...knowing there are more discoveries, that you will never see.

All I do is try to keep up. And I'm always falling behind.

[Kerfuffle]

Never mentioned - Where exactly did the Big Bang happen? If the universe is expanding, then there is some point it is expanding from. Look there for the answer -- maybe we'll find what's left of the fuse, or something.

[Focault's Pendulum]

What are we here for? Well, today it's to shovel out a foot and a half of snow.

Sorry to hear about your bad back.

[DSBull]

It was without form and void....

[PatrickHenry]

Never mentioned - Where exactly did the Big Bang happen?

Everywhere. It was everything.

[Focault's Pendulum]

All I do is try to keep up. And I'm always falling behind.

Aw crap! Now I got to do more math and stuff.

Just when I thought I got the singularity thing.....and I really still don't got it.

Thanks for keeping me thinking.

[RightWhale]

It's okay if I don't move fast--not usually a problem. But the elbow, the knee, the various ligaments and tendons that transfer the effect of the will to the blade of the shovel all talk constantly about Caribbean vacation resorts.

[HighFlier]

That photo was totally uncalled for!!! This is prime time.

[HighFlier]

Cosmology.....doesn't that have something to do with horoscopes? :-)

[PatrickHenry]

Aw crap! Now I got to do more math and stuff.

Skip the math. Just skim for the dirty pictures. That's what I always do.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Now, please?!

[rbg81]

Lets make a few radical assumptions:

1. Even though the Universe is a VERY BIG place, it is still a closed system.
2. There are fixed laws of physics which govern matter & its interaction with other matter (of which are almost infinitely numerous themselves, we probably know only a few). Think of these as the Universe's program.
3. The conditions (parameters) to this program were passed at the time of the Big Bang. (By the Master Programmer himself).

If you accept these assumptions then:
1. The Universe has evolved, and is evolving, in a deterministic manner.
2. While many things appear random, nothing really is. We just don't understand the the underlying patterns.
3. Our existence, actions, and even thoughts have all been predetermined.
4. While we have the ability to make our own decisions, the outcome of decision process is predetermined. This is the paradox of free will.

[RightWhale]

The background microwave radiation, the 3 Kelvin stuff, has irregularities that correspond to quantum variations inside a twenty pound ball blown up almost instantly about a zillion times from something smaller than a nuclear particle to the universe we can see times a factor of about 10³⁰ in about 10^-30 second. That was the Big Bang. The irregularities are an image of the random energy fluctuations in the ball at the moment of the Big Bang. Does that make any sense? No? I didn't think it would, but the spelling is okay.

[Tarpaulin]

Yeah!? Like, totally, fer Sure!

You mean, like, Physics isn't posh anymore?

(intro)

[skip_intro]

I see your Helen Thomas, and raise you a Michael Jackson.

=

[Hot Tabasco]

How do you guys do it...I mean...knowing there are more discoveries, that you will never see.

I ask the same thing myself. My only wish for immortality or at least prolonged life is to be able to see the answers to all the questions that I have.......Questions like are there aliens, or is there a wall at the end of the universe that will prevent the expansion of it. Weird stuff like that......