Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brian on December 20, 2009 at 11:19pm

Well I will say that in my understanding of string theory, or more specifically M-theory, which is limited at this point to the popular level so my understanding could very well be wrong, is that our universe is trapped in something called a brane. We exist in a universe with many such branes, as well as anti branes the same way there exists anti matter. One theory is that when a brane collides with an anti brane it creates a big bang and that many such universes trapped on many such branes may very well exist. And according to string theory open strings can be connected to two branes. Of course take this with a grain of salt, we don't have observable evidence of this but we're going to find out something when they finally start doing cool stuff at the LHC

Permalink Reply by Jason Kay on December 23, 2009 at 7:33pm

I believe that the Universe came to be via the Big Bang, need I explain why?

Permalink Reply by Gowri Thampi on December 24, 2009 at 2:16pm

if i knew that , Id win the Nobel prize :) (least of it)

Permalink Reply by Richard Francis on December 24, 2009 at 5:22pm

I assume the universe has always been here in one form or another. The big bang is just part of the ongoing process. As to what was before the big bang, I am not afraid to say that I don't know. I won't make something up to conceal my ignorance, unlike religious people, who will come up with any old story to make themselves feel better.

Just as a side issue. Saying that 'a god made everything happen' is just magical misdirection. It doesn't answer anything. Where did that god come from? Who created that god? And who created the creator etc.

I hope this helps.

Richard

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on December 30, 2009 at 7:41am

Time is (among other things) a mechanism for measuring CHANGE. Before the Big Bang, there was NOTHING, neither a process to observe, nor an observer (who would have his/her own processes!) to observe it. Therefore time as a concept before the BB would be meaningless.

Just takin' a shot here.

Permalink Reply by Will Higdon on December 24, 2009 at 5:25pm

It's pretty easy for me; I'm one who does not care. So why did I answer then right? Because I am still curious to the true beginning, and do wonder if the way we were created will eventfully lead to our demise. I believe 100% that it was a scientific occurrence so I do read journals and study presentations but that is the extent.

To this person it’s comparable to seeking the root of your ancestry. Why?

Permalink Reply by Will Higdon on December 25, 2009 at 1:13am

Some things disturb all of us, many things disturb some of us; one of those many to disturb me is a member questioning the belonging to a number just for inquisitive participation. I would tend to shun a group looking for me to belong if they shunned the word believe.

Believing is not of mystical nature but a feeling that something is of truth even if unproven. I am a believer that the dark chocolate bar I will eat on Christmas morning will be good. Not yet proven, but most likely true. I believe Einstein was right in many assertions, yet my skill at his craft is far inferior to prove he is right or wrong. I believe the Universe was a physical manifestation of something violent and amazing vs. an act of a god, yet I cannot prove it. Is it then wrong to espouse belief?

Permalink Reply by Richard Francis on December 25, 2009 at 3:57pm

We're not just talking about time but also matter.

Is there an example of getting something from nothing? If not, then why is our default setting that there had to be a beginning? Is it a remnant from our religious past?

Why couldn't there have always been a universe, and that we are just part of an ebb and flow process?

I have watched this documentary before and read his book but see no answers there.

Thanks for the link. It's good to review.

Permalink Reply by amer muhammad on December 25, 2009 at 4:44pm

Athiests in every society are bothered a lot on creation of universe. I am poor in scientific knowledge. I don't even understand what big bang is. Still I am an athiest. I can't understand when people say science can't explain it all. Dosen't this all varies person to person, place to place and time to time. It wasn't long when we knew nothing about virul and bacterial diseases. Today they are well known facts but in the past part of that all. Human knowledge will keep on chewing ignorance bit by bit. May be a day will come that creation of universe would be a well decided fact like cause of malaria.
For me no matter how universe was created, it wasn't the redicules way as sheep herders of thousands of years ago thought. And it is enough to be athiest

Permalink Reply by Mike Layfield on December 26, 2009 at 12:54pm

As a naturalist, I tentatively believe that nature, continuous and self-contained, is the ultimate order of being. As a determinist, I tentatively believe that history determines freedom, such that all actions/events/behaviors are determined by prior circumstances, and that past present and future coexist unalterably as locations in the fabric of spacetime. From this perspective, the question "What came before the big bang?" is meaningless.

Permalink Reply by Gerald Scott on December 26, 2009 at 8:07pm

Please explain "tentatively". Meaning "subject to future change" or "uncertain"?

Permalink Reply by Mike Layfield on December 28, 2009 at 1:08pm

Yes. My above beliefs are both uncertain and subject to change. I could be wrong about all of it. If and when better evidence becomes available, or someone persuades me that my beliefs are illogical, I will abandon them, and perhaps replace them with better tentative beliefs that hopefully are in closer accord with reality. Perhaps rather than say "tentatively believe" I should say, "strongly suspect." It's more like a working hypothesis—a placeholder worldview.

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