Ask Gugel Anything About the Big Bang

[Gugel]

Ask away.

[Duke]

What are your credentials?

[Humble Pie]

Can or will a similar event ever take place?

[Gugel]

[ QUOTE ]
Can or will a similar event ever take place?

[/ QUOTE ]

Can it take place? Yes, if it happened once, it could, in theory happen again under the right conditions. Whether those conditions will ever present themselves is a matter of speculation.

Will it happen again?

Judging solely on the existing evidence, no. We must assume the null hypothesis unless there is evidence suggesting otherwise. There is no evidence suggesting a Big Bang will ever occur again, therefore, the null hypothesis holds.

At one point, some cosmologists thought the Universe might eventually end in a Big Crunch and possibly precipitate another round of the Universe (a new Big Bang). Evidence now suggests otherwise.

There are also some string theorists that suggest that there are multiple Universes (multiple Big Bangs) in some meta Universe. At this point, there is absolutely no conclusive evidence for this hypothesis.

[reup]

is there any correlation between human potential and the big bang.

for example, in certain Zen teachings they talk about Kensho or certain deep realizations being earth shattering... do you think that there are ties between the conception of the Universe and earth shattering, enlightening realizations/ahah moments where ... everything is illuminated???

[Gugel]

[ QUOTE ]
is there any correlation between human potential and the big bang.

for example, in certain Zen teachings they talk about Kensho or certain deep realizations being earth shattering... do you think that there are ties between the conception of the Universe and earth shattering, enlightening realizations/ahah moments where ... everything is illuminated???

[/ QUOTE ]

As humans, we tend to place a lot of importance in our role in the Universe. In many religions, we are in the center of the Universe and are God's chosen creatures.

In reality, we are a speck in an arbitrary place in the cosmos. It is estimated that there are 10^21 stars in the Universe. If you add up all the grains of sand on all of Earth's beaches, you wouldn't be close. Furthermore, in my opinion, Man is not a special animal. We are simply a product of evolution whose brain structure allowed higher thought processes.

In short, our fate, is in no way tied to the fate of the Universe. Nevertheless, it IS truly amazing that humans can begin to understand even a little of how the Universe was created and it's laws.

[Gugel]

[ QUOTE ]
What are your credentials?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not claiming to know everything and please correct me if I'm mistaken anywhere. I took some high level astronomy/cosmology courses in college and read a bit cosmology in my spare time. I'll be able to answer most questions in layman's terms.

[Gugel]

Here's some food for thought.

4% of the Universe is observable to us. In other words, it's made up of ordinary matter/energy.
22% of the Universe is dark matter.
74% of the Universe is dark energy.

Also, to clear up a common misconception: the Big Bang did not start from a tiny point. Well, it did, but probably not the way your thinking about it. There is no special direction in the Universe. There is no central point from which the Big Bang began and expanded outwards. The Universe started EVERYWHERE at the same time. The Big Bang was just as much here as it was billions of light years away. The whole Universe was just condensed into a very small volume (infinitesimally small) so everything was infinitely close together. So, was it a point? Yes. But it doesn't make sense to think of it from outside or on the edge of the point.

[Phil153]

- Did anything exist before the big bang?
- How do we know the universe is expanding? Couldn't there be some other explanation for the redshift or whatever it is we're seeing? Couldn't we be stuck in a local random swirl of some infinite universe, like turbulence in a pond?

[Phil153]

[ QUOTE ]
But it doesn't make sense to think of it from outside or on the edge of the point.

[/ QUOTE ]
How useful is the big bang metaphor then? What does it mean?