What Happened Before the Big Bang?

[Toaster]

mudflaps said:

Lawrence Kraus certainly objects to it.

Maybe thats because he has put some thought into it

[SPS]

mudflaps said:

Prof Prolapse said:

Hitchens remains one of my heros. Probably explains why I enjoy a good row so much.

Mine too. I love the militant wing of Atheism.

Probably a better position than a militant wing of religion - just imagine what the world would be like if such a thing existed!!
Hitchens for enlightenment and big bangs!.

[qube_TA]

But those sorts of ideas bring nothing to the table.

If we and everything aren't really real then there's even less point to it all than before.

[AA999]

ash73 said:

budfox said:

I'm a fan of the suggestion that none of us is really here, we're just living out a simulation being run by the actual humans who preceded us by tens of thousands of years.

I quite like that idea too, especially as QM suggests reality is only instantiated when observed; rather like a fractal on a computer. But it won't be humans from a few thousand years ago running it.

Isn't this maybe just the way we are interpreting QM observations/results given the technology equipment we have in present day?
The whole "reality doesn't exist until we look at it" concept in my view is probably just a limitation on our current technology or understanding/interpretation of the process(s).

[mudflaps]

AA999 said:

The whole "reality doesn't exist until we look at it" concept in my view is probably just a limitation on our current technology or understanding/interpretation of the process(s).

Or it's how the programmers of this reality save on RAM.



I can't make up my mind.

[PhysDoc]

Prof Prolapse said:

Why does "string theory" always come up in these sort of topics?

Its widely regarded as utter bks.

String theory certainly has its critics, mostly on the basis that it is not background independent, and it requires a whole load of other stuff which there is no current evidence for to be correct, like supersymmetry and extra dimensions.

But to say it is widely regarded as 'utter bks' is misinformed. It a serious contender for a quantum theory of gravity, along with loop gravity and spin foams which has its own problems. But as a stand-alone theory, it has proved very powerful in other areas of particle physics.

Edited by PhysDoc on Sunday 2nd August 22:19

Edited by PhysDoc on Sunday 2nd August 22:20

[mudflaps]

Fight! Well, academic argument anyway. Physdoc v Prof Prolapse.