Zebulon Hilyard (Zebulonh)
Many theories have popped up throughout the 19th and 20th centuries about what there could have been before the big bang. With the evidence of inflation, and an expanding universe there is offered the theory that at a time before the Big Bang that all of the matter in the universe was located on top of itself. At this time before the Big Bang the density of this "singularity" is thought to be infinite where all known laws of physics would break down. Since the laws of physics do not apply this before the Big Bang, this theory allows for more matter to come into existence than there was before the Big Bang. Pretty convenient, and that is just one theory.
It is hard to imagine just how difficult it is to develop a theory like this. You need to be able to understand an incredible amount science and combine that with creativity/ ability to think further outside the box than anyone else has before you. Generally, I tend to have a lot of doubt about these theories, but I still have a lot of respect for the people who come up with them. I feel like at some time we will be able to pin down what there was before the Big Bang, which may have some significance for what lies ahead.
Stephen Hawking declared philosophy to be dead just a couple of years ago, and that it "has not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics". Without the eagerness to know more about the universe in which we live, we may not stumble upon the correct questions we need to ask, and therefor the answers to those questions, to discover what there was before our universe began.
Sources
- http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/what-happened-before-the-big-bang-the-new-philosophy-of-cosmology/251608/
- http://www.hawking.org.uk/the-beginning-of-time.html
I find this post very interesting and I must agree with the author that I respect the many scientists and astronomers who have theorized what may have occurred before the Big Bang. The theory in which you describe above is very outside the box and that is why I enjoy reading about such theories like this, where the laws of physics do not apply, or other irregular circumstances. Thank you for reminding us that it takes creativity along with courage to perhaps come up with the most impressive pre-Big Bang theories.
ReplyDeleteYou're post was definitely an interesting read that brings to light something that most people do not stop to realize. We take for granted that people have to go through an immense amount of work to develop these theories, but at the same time we have a tendency to view those theories as absolute truths. Just as we learned at the beginning of this course, science cannot prove anything despite how many people think it can. At the end of the day, all we can hope for is solid evidence and the only way to acquire that evidence is for skeptical people like yourself to make their opinions be heard.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting assessment. I have often wondered what happened before the Big Bang, but that seems to be mostly where studies of astronomy begin. It's interesting to think about how views of the universe have developed from a historical perspective and how with new developments in science, our perspective on the formation of the universe can also evolve. This is interesting because it shows how these are all just theories and that in time our perspective on the universe might change even further.
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