----- Original Message ----- From: "Jesse Mazer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <everything-list@eskimo.com> Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 07:53 PM Subject: RE: where did the Big Bang come from?
> Norman Samish wrote: > > > > > > > Norman Samish wrote: > > >> And where did this mysterious Big Bang come from? A "quantum > > >> fluctuation of virtual particles" I'm told. > > > > >On Mon, 6 Jun 2005, Jesse Mazer wrote: > > > Whoever told you that was passing off speculation as fact--in fact there > > > is no agreed-upon answer to the question of what, if anything, came > >before > > > the Big Bang or "caused" it. > > > > > > >Patrick Leahy wrote: > >Maybe Norman is confusing the rather more legit idea that the > >"fluctuations" > >in the Big Bang, that explain why the universe is not completely uniform, > >come from quantum fluctuations amplified by inflation. This is currently > >the leading theory for the origin of structure, in that it has quite a lot > >of successful predictions to its credit. > > > >Norman Samish writes: > >Perhaps I didn't express myself well. What I was referring to is at > >http://www.astronomycafe.net/cosm/planck.html, where Sten Odenwald > >hypothesizes that random fluctuations in "nothing at all" led to the Big > >Bang. "This process has been described by the physicist Frank Wilczyk at > >the University of California, Santa Barbara by saying, 'The reason that > >there is something instead of nothing is that nothing is unstable.' ". . . > >"Physicist Edward Tryon expresses this best by saying that 'Our universe is > >simply one of those things that happens from time to time.' " > > > > But as I said, this idea is pure speculation, there isn't any evidence for > it and we'd probably need a fully worked-out theory of quantum gravity to > see if the idea even makes sense. > > Jesse This is one of the motivations for believing in a purely mathematical universe. A physical universe can never arise from 'nothing'. If you believe in mathematical reality then there is no mystery. The mathematical model that describes the big bang is eternal. Saibal