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I agree with much of the sentiment such as string theory and multi universes are nonsense. Yes math is just an abstraction tool, with mutually understood/ agree

I agree with much of the sentiment such as string theory and multi universes are nonsense. Yes math is just an abstraction tool, with mutually understood/ agreed rules , the rules and representations are not exactly true in the real world, users just agree them to assist with communication between users and over time. Time is Not Real, it's an abstraction / quantification of change, but yes change is I think real i.e. the universe is always changing. However his statement- Our ability to map out the history of the universe back to a fraction of an instant after its inception is a triumph - ruined it for me - an absurd statement for a scientist - we have no idea how the universe started we are only guessing it's history, the big bang theory is just a theory, probably no more real than Lord of the Rings.

Tyr42 10y ago
Sounds like you haven't seen much of the evidence for big bang theory. I'm going to call your attention to the COBE mission. http://science.nasa.gov/missions/cobe/ http://science.nasa.gov/missions/cobe/ This took the predictions from the big bang theory about a small hot dense universe, and measured the cosmic background radiation, and it matched perfectly. The idea is that when the universe was young, it was so hot that all the matter was in a plasma cloud, and that photons (and other EM radiation) couldn't travel very far at all before being absorbed and re-emitted in a random direction. Then, the universe expanded and cooled enough that the cloud became transparent. But there were still those photons (etc) that now just kept going in all directions. Some of them happen to be arriving from all directions no matter where you are (unless you're on the rim of the universe or something). That's the cosmic background radiation. And we measured it, and it matched so well with the predicted numbers it was astounding. This is also the graph that shows up on the "Science, it works bitches!" xkcd shirt. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/54:_Science https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/54:_Science

Tyr42 10y ago

Sounds like you haven't seen much of the evidence for big bang theory. I'm going to call your attention to the COBE mission. http://science.nasa.gov/missions/cobe/ http://science.nasa.gov/missions/cobe/ This took the predictions from the big bang theory about a small hot dense universe, and measured the cosmic background radiation, and it matched perfectly. The idea is that when the universe was young, it was so hot that all the matter was in a plasma cloud, and that photons (and other EM radiation) couldn't travel very far at all before being absorbed and re-emitted in a random direction. Then, the universe expanded and cooled enough that the cloud became transparent. But there were still those photons (etc) that now just kept going in all directions. Some of them happen to be arriving from all directions no matter where you are (unless you're on the rim of the universe or something). That's the cosmic background radiation. And we measured it, and it matched so well with the predicted numbers it was astounding. This is also the graph that shows up on the "Science, it works bitches!" xkcd shirt. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/54:_Science https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/54:_Science