Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Mark_Chid · 08-26-2002, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Infinity Lover:
<strong>it all HAD to begin at some point...

May I please think so free, to call that a complete and utter load of nothingness?

There is NO such nessecity, on the contrary; it's a blatant breach of basic logic.

A beginning of existence (=all that exists; a term I prefer in favour of the more scientic, but ultimately hypothetical "universe")would have to be preceided by nonexistence, which (believe it or not) has this peculiar habit of NOT existing.

It's equally odd, how religious people have no problem whatsoever with fascilitating the notion of an eternal deity, while at the same time being incapable of accepting an absolutely infinite existence.

There seems to be no comprehendable reason for shunting absolute infinity, but the irrational attachment to beginning. We (in general) just don't like letting go of that idea. Perhaps we find it somewhat unnerving?
Hense the title...

[ August 25, 2002: Message edited by: Infinity Lover ]</strong>

Nah - its more complicated than that. Time and space began at the Big Bang. Before that there wasn't even nothing - there as no 'before' in wqhich nothing could exist.

Asking what happened before the big bang is like asking what part of your body is 3 feet to the left of your head, its a meaningless question.

The universe is finite, but expanding and unbounded. It will always be finite, but there's no limit to its possible expansion because its not expanding 'into' anything, its just expanding.

This is my understanding of current thinking in cosmology, I may be wrong, but it makes sense to me.

The evidence is against an eternal universe - unless its a succession of big bangs and big crunches, but that seems unlikely, since the numbers don't add up.

Zippy · 08-26-2002, 05:00 PM

What about some sort of circular time thingie?

You know, so that.. time.. um..

I'll get my coat.

Paul

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08-26-2002, 05:00 PM	#12
Zippy Regular Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: England Posts: 115	What about some sort of circular time thingie? You know, so that.. time.. um.. I'll get my coat. Paul

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