Posted on 09/02/2010 6:21:27 AM PDT by tlb
The Big Bang was the result of the inevitable laws of physics and did not need God to spark the creation of the Universe, Stephen Hawking has concluded.
In his latest book, The Grand Design, an extract of which is published in Eureka magazine in The Times, Hawking said: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.”
“It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.”
In June this year Prof Hawking told a Channel 4 series that he didn't believe that a "personal" God existed. He told Genius of Britain: "The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second. If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
When’s the next one happening?
Cleanup is going to be a #%@&!
“On the first day God said let there be light”
You betcha, >bang!< and there was light.
Of course, once you have a light/heat source then all the other stuff falls into place. But this is from my ig’nert bitter gun clinging, invisible sky god believing point of view.
(oh and Thanks.If you ever need or want to use that pic, go ahead and pinch it, I did that meself.) : )
I guess we’ll find out who is correct when we both assume room temperature?
God speed er I mean good luck!
He didn’t present a theory.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/theory
“a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena”
“a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact.”
In his latest book, The Grand Design, an extract of which is published in Eureka magazine in The Times, Hawking said: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.”
“It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.”
PS I called it the atheist story of creation. It is his story (did not use the word theory).
He’s OK with the concept of “Aliens”. Just not something as radical a concept as “Creator”. Brilliant people don’t know everything, but truly gifted people know that they don’t.
2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
That's true, he's only helped push back boundaries. We have yet to reach the root answers. Which is not the same as saying we never will.
But religion only pushes back the boundary too, and it does it based on speculation on unfounded belief.
I’ve read a couple of Hawking’s books. After the first book, my thought was that if you write a bunch of stuff about something that 99 percent of people don’t understand, then those people will think you are smart, even if you’re wrong or your theories can’t be proven. Those people will agree with you so others will think they’re smart too.
Does Hawkings have some good theories? Yes. But, since they can’t be proven (except in theoretic models), they’re just theories. I believe “The Personal God” is a creator, and that the workings of the physical world are organized by Him. That’s why I’m not a scientist, I guess.
That's pretty much the case. Stay safe out there (I assume you're Air Force).
So, the cause of the “big bang” is now known, eh? ;-P
Theoretically that is true.
But religion only pushes back the boundary too, and it does it based on speculation on unfounded belief.
The main business of Religion is "re-linking", i.e. reforging the sundered links between God and Man. That's a very personal kind of thing (although it has ramifications for society as a whole) so the boundaries it pushes back are mostly in your own mind (and soul).
However I have to take issue with this "speculation on unfounded belief" crack. Hawking is working in theoretical physics. What else is that but speculation? And religion does not base its ideas on "unfounded belief". On the contrary, it's very founded indeed - it's just not the foundation that people like Hawking build on. That does not make it invalid though.
Here is one explanation of what it means.
Roman Catholic Church interpretation
The Roman Catholic Church's interpretation has been summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The interpretation is found in numbers 203-213. [6]
Some of the salient points are the following:
Some people are too smart for their own good.
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” ...................... Ah yes, but rose in fish market still smell like fish.
If you want to see a third theory [vs. G-d did it and poof!] check out Hugh Everett. Hawking once said that Everett’s theory is true, but trivial. Agree with the true part, emphatically disagree with the trivial assessment.
Short version. Start with a point of view (POV) of the “universe”. Each POV sees the world in a different way. Some POV are inaccessible. Every time it seems that one thing has happened but not another (e.g. Cincinnati wins), from another POV something else happened (e.g. Cincinnati lost). In the big picture, every thing that can happen, does happen.
From a D&D perspective, every time I roll a 20-sided die the “universe” splits into 20 distinct “universes”. The possibility exists for merging, but divergence is many orders of magnitude more common. The past had fewer dice; the future has more dice. Physicists call this entropy, but don’t fully explain it. If you go back to the beginning, first there were no dice, then only a few (no matter, then a little bit of matter).
This theory has several predictions.
1. From every POV the “universe” is locally hyperbolic - “universe” is expanding and will never collapse.
2. Mass of each “universe” is expanding at m = a*sqrt(t)
mass increases with the square root of time. If you are familiar with drunkards walk or gamblers math.
3. The information flow from the future to the present is greater than zero.
4. This information flow is consistent with a Deist POV (but not necessarily Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc. POV).
5. This is also consistent with Feynmann diagrams.
Then it exploded.
Well done.
Gizmodo headline “Big Bangs happen...”
Amen.
Matthew 7:14
For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it.
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