I stayed out of the latest tempest-in-a-pisspot discussions of the Big
Bang, and how REEEAAALLY REEEAAALLY STOOOPID some people here think
those who don't believe in it are, because I think such people are
simply incapable of not anthropomorphizing the universe.
They have seemingly legitimate reasons for believing in a Big Bang, but
the bottom line, when you dig below the surface, is almost always either
that 1) they rely on consensus ("The majority of scientists believe in
one") or 2) that they believe in the fairy tales they were told as a kid
("God created the universe, so *of course* it had a beginning").
Me, I tend to go with the approach held by many Buddhists. That is, that
no "God" is necessary to explain Creation because...duh...there was
never a Creation. The universe is eternal -- there has never been a time
when it did not exist; therefore the question of "when" it started to
exist is moot.
Fortunately, there *are* scientists who are not as hamstrung in their
theories as the ones the Big Bang Believers rely on:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rainbow-gravity-univers\
e-beginning
<http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rainbow-gravity-univer\
se-beginning>
I just wish that people would *get over* their need to project their
human beliefs and the very ephemerality of their human lifespans onto
the universe. Think outside the box, people. The main reason you think
that the universe has a beginning and end is because YOU have them.
Chances are the universe has no such limitations.
People who were told to believe in a God who Created the universe tend
to glom onto the Big Bang as a pseudo-scientific reason to push their
belief in God. But what these people (you listening, jr_esq?) don't seem
to realize is that if you're talking to people who believe that the
universe is eternal and never *had* a beginning, all your posturing
about what "caused" that beginning is just so much adolescent twaddle.
Don't think so small. Think BIG. Think eternity.
Then non-theists might actually accept that you're capable of thinking.
:-)
