4 ms·

I don't see why the idea that "the universe might have been around forever" is so surprising since as far as I know, the prevalent theory is that time started a

by laureny 13y ago

I don't see why the idea that "the universe might have been around forever" is so surprising since as far as I know, the prevalent theory is that time started at the big bang, which means that saying "before the big bang" makes as much sense as "going north while standing at the north pole".

Natsu 13y ago
If you posit that our universe is embedded in some higher space, it might still make sense to ask what's above the "north pole."
- loceng 13y ago
  I think our best guess is that our universe is connected to other universes, perhaps through a larger bubble / body, and perhaps through that connecting through to perhaps infinite other universes.
loceng 13y ago
People find comfort in knowing when something starts, and when something ends. It stems from controlling, wanting control over your environment. You can let that go though, and then the universe being infinite is beautiful.
sev 13y ago
> the prevalent [in the general public, and therefore in the scientific community] theory The reason it's prevalent is because it is the most easily understood and acceptable by most people/religions/cultures - not because it is the most accurate or plausible explanation.
- chc 13y ago
  I don't think that's actually how the scientific community as a whole evaluates theories.
  - sev 13y ago
    I'm not talking about the scientific community. I'm talking about people in the world. Christianity for example has accepted the Big Bang Theory as plausible and has not accepted others. This fact alone will help 70% of the world make a theory more prevalent.
    - russellsprouts 13y ago
      Before the Big Bang theory, most Christian thinkers accepted the universe as eternal.
      - dctoedt 13y ago
        Citation, please. (Contra: Genesis 1:1.)
        doorhammer 13y ago
        This is an anecdotal reposnse mostly based on having grown up in a strongly charismatic Christian background, but the folks I knew probably would have said that god existed forever and the universe started when he made it. Obviously that's going to depend on who you ask in the denomination and what denomination you ask. My experience is that you're not generally going to get a very nuanced view of space and time but occasionally you'll be a little surprised. Again. Anecdotal. Ymmv
        saraid216 13y ago
        Genesis 1:1 does not reflect the thought of any Christian thinkers.
    - tedunangst 13y ago
      Christianity is a rather broad grouping that encompasses a hundred churches with different beliefs. I don't think you can make meaningful statements about what Christians believe, except that they believe in Christ (hence the name). There's no central planning committee that decides what to believe. For practical purposes, you may as well just use the word religion, as in "Religion for example has accepted the Big Bang Theory", which is more obviously too general.
chc 13y ago
But that still isn't the same thing as "forever." Time does not go back infinitely — according to current theory, the universe definitely has a beginning in time.
- jckt 13y ago
  The whole dimension-tautology has always irked me. Time, as a unit, is simply the "time" it takes for light to travel a certain distance. Distance, OTOH, is the "distance" it takes for light to travel under a certain amount of time. AFAIK one of the authors of this theory is a proponent of a variable speed of light. So if at some point in time light didn't move, then time didn't move, then that would mean that our universe existed since forever...? Not a physicist, but sometimes I feel weird when I am reminded of the fact that the Big Bang had a definite starting point 13.8B years ago (as you have done so), and then think about how time is really... a function of length and length is just a function of time.
  - baby 13y ago
    > Time, as a unit, is simply the "time" it takes for light to travel a certain distance. Without time there is no interaction between two atoms. There is no movement. It's not only about light traveling. > The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. -Albert Einstein
  - stephenwinter2 13y ago
    The Einstein quote is great. I would add: The only reason for time is so that everything can't be understood at once. 'Stretching' and 'scaling' as the foundational principle of distances and time makes the idea of a starting point needless. I wrote about it here: http://hashsign.co.uk/contemporary/by/thoughts/pop-pop-bang-cosmology.html http://hashsign.co.uk/contemporary/by/thoughts/pop-pop-bang-...
  - gizmo686 13y ago
    >Time, as a unit, is simply the "time" it takes for light to travel a certain distance. I believe that time is currently defined in terms of the period of a Cesium isotope.
Strilanc 13y ago
In this case forever doesn't refer to "all of time" but to "an unbounded past".

by laureny 13y ago

Natsu 13y ago

If you posit that our universe is embedded in some higher space, it might still make sense to ask what's above the "north pole."

loceng 13y ago
I think our best guess is that our universe is connected to other universes, perhaps through a larger bubble / body, and perhaps through that connecting through to perhaps infinite other universes.

loceng 13y ago

People find comfort in knowing when something starts, and when something ends. It stems from controlling, wanting control over your environment. You can let that go though, and then the universe being infinite is beautiful.

sev 13y ago

> the prevalent [in the general public, and therefore in the scientific community] theory The reason it's prevalent is because it is the most easily understood and acceptable by most people/religions/cultures - not because it is the most accurate or plausible explanation.

chc 13y ago
I don't think that's actually how the scientific community as a whole evaluates theories.
- sev 13y ago
  I'm not talking about the scientific community. I'm talking about people in the world. Christianity for example has accepted the Big Bang Theory as plausible and has not accepted others. This fact alone will help 70% of the world make a theory more prevalent.
  - russellsprouts 13y ago
    Before the Big Bang theory, most Christian thinkers accepted the universe as eternal.
    - dctoedt 13y ago
      Citation, please. (Contra: Genesis 1:1.)
      - doorhammer 13y ago
        This is an anecdotal reposnse mostly based on having grown up in a strongly charismatic Christian background, but the folks I knew probably would have said that god existed forever and the universe started when he made it. Obviously that's going to depend on who you ask in the denomination and what denomination you ask. My experience is that you're not generally going to get a very nuanced view of space and time but occasionally you'll be a little surprised. Again. Anecdotal. Ymmv
      - saraid216 13y ago
        Genesis 1:1 does not reflect the thought of any Christian thinkers.
  - tedunangst 13y ago
    Christianity is a rather broad grouping that encompasses a hundred churches with different beliefs. I don't think you can make meaningful statements about what Christians believe, except that they believe in Christ (hence the name). There's no central planning committee that decides what to believe. For practical purposes, you may as well just use the word religion, as in "Religion for example has accepted the Big Bang Theory", which is more obviously too general.

chc 13y ago

But that still isn't the same thing as "forever." Time does not go back infinitely — according to current theory, the universe definitely has a beginning in time.

jckt 13y ago
The whole dimension-tautology has always irked me. Time, as a unit, is simply the "time" it takes for light to travel a certain distance. Distance, OTOH, is the "distance" it takes for light to travel under a certain amount of time. AFAIK one of the authors of this theory is a proponent of a variable speed of light. So if at some point in time light didn't move, then time didn't move, then that would mean that our universe existed since forever...? Not a physicist, but sometimes I feel weird when I am reminded of the fact that the Big Bang had a definite starting point 13.8B years ago (as you have done so), and then think about how time is really... a function of length and length is just a function of time.
- baby 13y ago
  > Time, as a unit, is simply the "time" it takes for light to travel a certain distance. Without time there is no interaction between two atoms. There is no movement. It's not only about light traveling. > The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. -Albert Einstein
- stephenwinter2 13y ago
  The Einstein quote is great. I would add: The only reason for time is so that everything can't be understood at once. 'Stretching' and 'scaling' as the foundational principle of distances and time makes the idea of a starting point needless. I wrote about it here: http://hashsign.co.uk/contemporary/by/thoughts/pop-pop-bang-cosmology.html http://hashsign.co.uk/contemporary/by/thoughts/pop-pop-bang-...
- gizmo686 13y ago
  >Time, as a unit, is simply the "time" it takes for light to travel a certain distance. I believe that time is currently defined in terms of the period of a Cesium isotope.

Strilanc 13y ago

In this case forever doesn't refer to "all of time" but to "an unbounded past".