I’ve just been reading an article about the high-flying mathematical calculations that are leading some of the world’s best scientists to think that they might be able to uncover actual evidence for a big bang before the one that produced the universe we now live in.
If they are right, the laws of physics in the previous universe are the same as the laws of physics in our own universe today. And if they are right, our own universe will eventually contract, and another big bang will produce another universe, etc. Although the subsequent universes may obey the same laws of physics, they are not carbon copies of each other. In other words, just because we’ve been through this once, doesn’t mean we’ll do it all again in the same way.
Whatever else, I’m not going to write a book about another Big Bang. I don’t think I could fit it into six chunks anyway.
The Other I 
… If no one hears it, is it really a bang?…
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Comment by sanstorm — October 22, 2012 @ 3:13 pm |
After “our” Big Bang, there wasn’t any light for 300,000 years. So nobody saw it either. So if nobody saw it and nobody heard it, maybe it never happened?
Slightly more seriously, it’s interesting that I’ve heard philosophers ask if nobody heard a tree fell, whether it actually made a noise. But I never heard a philosopher ask if nobody saw a tree fall whether it actually fell. Guess it depends on whether the philosopher’s definition of noise is objective or interactive.
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Comment by theotheri — October 22, 2012 @ 3:28 pm |
Nice answer.
*brain falls out*
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Comment by sanstorm — October 23, 2012 @ 10:11 pm |
Okay, here’s another one that makes the problem even worse: when I hear a noise or see the tree fall, how do I know it wasn’t just in my head? I mean, was there really a noise and did the tree really fall?
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Comment by theotheri — October 24, 2012 @ 10:36 am |
and so it goes…once more I’m reduced to the size of a flea on the belly spot of the leopard…does the flea know the leopard, Kenya, Africa, Planet earth, galaxies…it is all wonderful!!!Full of wonder!!!Love,Beth Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:09:55 +0000 To: juniper1940@hotmail.com
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Comment by E Bastasch — October 22, 2012 @ 8:55 pm |
Yes! Beth, I feel the same way. And doesn’t it seem paradoxical that the smaller we feel the more incredibly wonderful it feels to be part of this awe-full universe? Terry
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Comment by theotheri — October 23, 2012 @ 3:10 pm |
I sometimes think the Monty Pythons got it right – particularly in the closing lines of the Galaxy Song 🙂
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Comment by Francis Hunt — October 23, 2012 @ 4:54 pm |
Thank you for the Galaxy Song. It’s been so long since I’ve listened to it that I forgot. It’s that “bugger all” transcendence that is most uplifting! Terry
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Comment by Terry Sissons — October 23, 2012 @ 7:21 pm |