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Someone commented "what if life existed before the big bang", but deleted their comment. I want to comment on that that Roger Penrose is considering the existe

Someone commented "what if life existed before the big bang", but deleted their comment. I want to comment on that that Roger Penrose is considering the existence and possible detection of a universe before the big bang, something he also touched on in his Nobel lecture. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37621098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37621098

whatshisface 3y ago
Not much could survive the conditions, unless you're thinking of aliens with technological means and some kind of ability to translate themselves into quark gluon physics and back.
- 7373737373 3y ago
  In our timeline, we still have billions if not trillions of years of potential technological life and -evolution ahead of us, until the last (dwarf) stars cease existing, if not longer through other means, so I wouldn't rule anything out. Also, even if life did not causally begin in this universe through "external" influence like this, transmitted signals may potentially influence the future of life greatly nonetheless.
iosystem 3y ago
Thanks for sharing! I'm personally a fan of the idea that life has always existed, meaning we have always existed as well. It's very cool to listen to someone like Roger Penrose expressing his thoughts on what possibly happened before the big bang. In my opinion, everything in Nature repeats, and nothing is so special that it cannot happen again when we understand the concept of infinity. People who favor the idea of believing in God might be against such a notion, but I think it's worth exploring along with all the philosophy that can emerge from it.
Beijinger 3y ago
„Ewiges Leben - ein Verleugnen der ewigen Wiederkehr des Gleichen.“ ―Friedrich Nietzsche
zoogeny 3y ago
I've been thinking recently (in part inspired by Penrose and other recursive universe theories): what if we can effect the trajectory of this current universe such that the next universe that is created has definable properties. As a highly improbable example I use only to spur imagination, what if we could control the next big bang so precisely that a solar system exactly like ours would exist containing humans just like us. That would lead me to speculate that if we were looking for messages from the previous universe (in the style of the movie/book Contact) then we should look to the signature of the background radiation (CMB). Imagine a previous universe left us instructions there to help us achieve this, and perhaps therefore to achieve some objective that spans multiple universes (i.e. some objective too large to complete within the lifespan of a single universe). If that isn't a sci-fi book then it should be. Also maybe an interesting area for legit academic study (e.g. how to imprint instructions in the CMB to pass along to future universes).
- civilitty 3y ago
  > That would lead me to speculate that if we were looking for messages from the previous universe (in the style of the movie/book Contact) then we should look to the signature of the background radiation (CMB). That was the premise behind the Stargate Universe TV series. <spoilers> The Ancients detect a pattern in the cosmic background radiation that hints at an intelligence that existed before the beginning of time and send a fleet of automated ships with FTL to research it. Millions of years later, the US Air Force manages to send a team on a one way trip to the flagship and hijinks ensue.</spoilers>
  - zoogeny 3y ago
    More proof that there are no new ideas under the sun! It is interesting to me that they chose the CMB as well. Although, looking at the Wikipedia synopsis it seems to speculate: "This discovery suggested the possibility of life before or immediately after the Big Bang, and Destiny was launched millions of years ago to study and gather data regarding this possibility." I wonder if they were going towards a purposeful communication plot as well, or even a plot suggesting a recurrence theme. I think of it sometimes like the ouroboros/eternal-return mystical philosophy. Like, the advanced life that we end up creating in this universe knows that the only way it can recreate itself is to recreate us, like we are just some kind of bootstrap for the universe's final form.
paulrouget 3y ago
His potential clues of CCC (the cyclic universe) in the CMB turned out to be incorrect. So as of now, this theory is not supported by anything.
svachalek 3y ago
Not before the Big Bang, but this is interesting -- what if life developed when the entire universe was in the habitable zone? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOiGEI9pQBs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOiGEI9pQBs
- api 3y ago
  Wasn’t that environment saturated by gamma rays? I’m thinking of the pre-redshift cosmic microwave background.

whatshisface 3y ago

Not much could survive the conditions, unless you're thinking of aliens with technological means and some kind of ability to translate themselves into quark gluon physics and back.

7373737373 3y ago
In our timeline, we still have billions if not trillions of years of potential technological life and -evolution ahead of us, until the last (dwarf) stars cease existing, if not longer through other means, so I wouldn't rule anything out. Also, even if life did not causally begin in this universe through "external" influence like this, transmitted signals may potentially influence the future of life greatly nonetheless.

iosystem 3y ago

Thanks for sharing! I'm personally a fan of the idea that life has always existed, meaning we have always existed as well. It's very cool to listen to someone like Roger Penrose expressing his thoughts on what possibly happened before the big bang. In my opinion, everything in Nature repeats, and nothing is so special that it cannot happen again when we understand the concept of infinity. People who favor the idea of believing in God might be against such a notion, but I think it's worth exploring along with all the philosophy that can emerge from it.

Beijinger 3y ago

„Ewiges Leben - ein Verleugnen der ewigen Wiederkehr des Gleichen.“ ―Friedrich Nietzsche

zoogeny 3y ago

I've been thinking recently (in part inspired by Penrose and other recursive universe theories): what if we can effect the trajectory of this current universe such that the next universe that is created has definable properties. As a highly improbable example I use only to spur imagination, what if we could control the next big bang so precisely that a solar system exactly like ours would exist containing humans just like us. That would lead me to speculate that if we were looking for messages from the previous universe (in the style of the movie/book Contact) then we should look to the signature of the background radiation (CMB). Imagine a previous universe left us instructions there to help us achieve this, and perhaps therefore to achieve some objective that spans multiple universes (i.e. some objective too large to complete within the lifespan of a single universe). If that isn't a sci-fi book then it should be. Also maybe an interesting area for legit academic study (e.g. how to imprint instructions in the CMB to pass along to future universes).

civilitty 3y ago
> That would lead me to speculate that if we were looking for messages from the previous universe (in the style of the movie/book Contact) then we should look to the signature of the background radiation (CMB). That was the premise behind the Stargate Universe TV series. <spoilers> The Ancients detect a pattern in the cosmic background radiation that hints at an intelligence that existed before the beginning of time and send a fleet of automated ships with FTL to research it. Millions of years later, the US Air Force manages to send a team on a one way trip to the flagship and hijinks ensue.</spoilers>
- zoogeny 3y ago
  More proof that there are no new ideas under the sun! It is interesting to me that they chose the CMB as well. Although, looking at the Wikipedia synopsis it seems to speculate: "This discovery suggested the possibility of life before or immediately after the Big Bang, and Destiny was launched millions of years ago to study and gather data regarding this possibility." I wonder if they were going towards a purposeful communication plot as well, or even a plot suggesting a recurrence theme. I think of it sometimes like the ouroboros/eternal-return mystical philosophy. Like, the advanced life that we end up creating in this universe knows that the only way it can recreate itself is to recreate us, like we are just some kind of bootstrap for the universe's final form.

paulrouget 3y ago

His potential clues of CCC (the cyclic universe) in the CMB turned out to be incorrect. So as of now, this theory is not supported by anything.

svachalek 3y ago

Not before the Big Bang, but this is interesting -- what if life developed when the entire universe was in the habitable zone? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOiGEI9pQBs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOiGEI9pQBs

api 3y ago
Wasn’t that environment saturated by gamma rays? I’m thinking of the pre-redshift cosmic microwave background.