This article suggest to me that the universe is conscious and learns with procedures similar to the human brain as proposed by Correlational Opponent Processing. Ron Blue >>Stanford University >> >>CONTACT: David F. Salisbury, News Service >>(650) 725-1944; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >>1/27/99 >> >>Did the universe begin as a fractal instead of a big bang? >>By David F. Salisbury >> >>When you think of the beginning of the universe, what image comes to mind? >> >>Many people envision it as a rapidly expanding fireball -- the way the "Big >>Bang" is described in virtually all the college textbooks and popular books >>published in the United States. >> >>But this common conception may be wrong. At least it is being challenged >>by the latest versions of a theory called inflationary cosmology, which >>has successfully predicted a number of recent observations regarding the >>structure of the present-day universe. >> >>According to inflationary theory, the universe begins not like an expanding >>ball of fire but more like a huge growing fractal made up of many inflating >>balls of space-time that produce new balls that, in turn, produce more new >>balls, ad infinitum. >> >>"The theory is very simple, but we have had a lot of psychological barriers >>to overcome," said Andrei Linde, a physics professor at Stanford and one of >>the authors of inflationary cosmology. He summarized the latest thinking on >>the subject in a session titled "Keys to the Cosmos: The Unification of >>Particle Physics and Cosmology -- History and Prophecy" at the annual meeting >>of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Monday, Jan. >>25. >> >>The standard "big bang" model describes the origin of the universe in terms >>of a hot, energetic explosion that took place about 15 billion years ago. >>The theory has been extremely successful in explaining many aspects of the >>visible universe. It can account for astronomers' discovery that the universe >>is expanding. It also explains the discovery in the 1960s that a faint and >>remarkably uniform microwave signal, called the cosmic background radiation, >>emanates from everywhere in the heavens. This signal has been interpreted as >>fossil radiation that dates back to a period when the universe was about >>300,000 years old, the point when the primordial mixture of subatomic >>particles and radiation cooled to the point that light could travel freely. >> >>But there are a number of important questions that the standard big bang >>model has failed to answer, Linde said. Where did the big bang come from, and >>what preceded it? Why does the visible universe, which is about 11 billion >>light years across, appear to be flat rather than curved? Why is the matter >>in the universe distributed extremely evenly at a very large scale, yet >>gathered into large clumps called galaxies at a smaller scale? >> >>Inflationary theory gives answers to these questions. The underlying idea is >>elegantly simple. It proposes that the primordial universe underwent a period >>of rapid, exponential expansion. But the magnitude of this expansion is >>difficult to grasp. During a period shorter than an eye blink, Linde >>calculates, a microscopic speck of space would have expanded explosively >>until it was much larger than the visible universe. >> >>Two of the benefits of this theory are immediately apparent. At a very >>large scale, matter is spread out with remarkable uniformity, departing from >>perfect homogeneity by less than one part in 10,000. If the visible universe >>started from a single, tiny volume, this extreme uniformity makes perfect >>sense. Inflationary theory also predicts that the visible universe should >>be flat, rather than curved, as suggested by Einstein's theory of general >>relativity. That is because the inflating universe acts similarly to an >>expanding balloon. If you pick a small area on the surface of a balloon and >>then blow it up, the area becomes flatter and flatter. Recent astronomical >>observations suggest that the universe is as flat as inflationary theory >>predicts. >> >>"It seems that inflation is doing very well, so far," Linde said. "In the >>last 20 years no other theory has been proposed that can explain the present >>state of the universe as well." >> >>Originally, inflation was thought of as an intermediate stage in the >>evolution of the universe that could solve a number of problems. One of these >>problems involves magnetic monopoles, theoretical super-particles possessing >>only one magnetic pole. According to the standard big bang model, monopoles >>should have been produced in abundance, but none has ever been found. >>Inflation solves this problem because exponential expansion would make them >>exceedingly rare. >> >>First inflationary theory introduced >> >>The first version of inflationary theory was produced by Alexei A. >>Starobinsky of the L. D. Landau Institute of Theoretical Physics in Moscow >>in 1979. Although it created a sensation among Russian astrophysicists, it >>was quite complicated and did not say much about how inflation could actually >>start, Linde said. >> >>In 1972, Linde and his colleague David Kirzhnits at the P. N. Lebedev Physics >>Institute in Moscow suggested that the early universe went through a series >>of phase transitions. As the universe expanded and cooled, it condensed into >>different forms, much like water vapor becomes liquid water that freezes into >>ice. In 1981, Alan H. Guth at Massachusetts Institute of Technology built on >>this idea by suggesting that the universe might have gone through an >unstable, >>super-cooled state during which the universe would undergo exponential >>expansion. Super-cooling is common during phase transitions. For example, >>undisturbed water can be cooled below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But the >>slightest disturbance causes it to freeze rapidly. >> >>Despite its popularity the original inflation theory had a fatal flaw, Linde >>said. It portrayed the period of inflation as taking place in what physicists >>call a false vacuum. This is a state without any particles, but with a lot >>of potential energy. "The problem with this idea is that this completely >>symmetric and nice state is so empty that you do not have any preferable >>coordinate system," he said. That means there is no way to determine whether >>the universe is expanding or not and, if you cannot make that determination, >>then the expansion is not real; instead it is a "false expansion." >> >>After exploring his idea for a year, Guth concluded that it could not >>work. But Linde found a way to rescue it in 1982 with what he dubbed "new >>inflationary theory." He did so by showing that inflation can take place in >>a false vacuum state that has begun to deteriorate. A few months later the >>same idea was proposed by Andreas Albrecht and Paul Steinhardt at the >>University of Pennsylvania. "If you have just a little bit of change, then >>you can have this preferable system that tells you when it is expanding," >>he said. >> >>They proposed that the energy in this near-false-vacuum state would be >>contained in a scalar field, often called the inflaton field. There is no >>exact comparison to such a field in nature today. But an electrostatic field, >>like that generated by the static build-up in clothes that causes them to >>cling, is a close analogy. A uniform electrostatic field is virtually >>undetectable: It only generates electrical and magnetic fields when it is >>inhomogeneous or changes over time. The inflaton field has the same basic >>characteristics but differs in one important way: It carries its own energy. >> >>The theorists argued that, when the inflaton field began falling, the >>primordial universe could undergo real, exponential inflation rather than >>false inflation. An imaginary observer equipped with a gravity meter would >>begin recording a slight weakening in the force of gravity and, if she were >>able to mark two different positions in nearby space, she would see them >>begin flying apart. >> >>As the scalar field decreases, it undergoes a phenomenon called quantum >>fluctuations. They are predicted by quantum electrodynamics, the laws that >>explain the behavior of subatomic particles. Initially, these oscillations >>would be sub-microscopic in scale. But as space inflates they become larger >>and larger, until they become the size of galaxies. Because these >fluctuations >>correspond to variations in energy density, when the period of inflation >ends, >>larger amounts of matter would be produced in areas where the field is high >>than in regions where it is low. Thus, they can explain the formation of >>galaxies, Linde said. >> >>The mechanism is also consistent with the discovery of slight variations in >>the strength of the cosmic background radiation discovered in 1992. They are >>also interpreted as the product of quantum fluctuations in the glowing soup >>of matter and energy. They are much smaller because they occurred before the >>universe finished its period of exponential expansion. >> >>Chaotic inflation eliminates a number of old assumptions >> >>Like old inflation, new inflation retained the assumption that the universe >>began both hot and in thermal equilibrium, that is, at the same temperature >>everywhere. Then inflation took place and all the original particles were >>swept away in the extraordinary growth spurt. At the end of the inflationary >>period, particles were recreated and then reheated by the fluctuating scalar >>field. >> >>But, if an inflationary period occurred, Linde realized that it also swept >>away virtually all information about the conditions that preceded it. The >>evidence scientists had interpreted as indicating hot conditions at the birth >>of the universe, like the cosmic background radiation, must refer to the >>post-inflation period instead of the period before it. >> >>"What evidence is there that the universe was originally hot? What evidence >>is there that it was in thermal equilibrium? None at all," Linde objected. >> >>So the cosmologist went back to the drawing board and came up with a third >>version of inflationary theory called chaotic inflation. In this approach, >>the big bang remains but becomes an aftereffect of cosmic inflation. He found >>that he could jettison a number of the other arbitrary assumptions on which >>past cosmological theories have been based. In fact, he found that all he >>needs to create a universe like our own is a patch of primordial universe >>with a large scalar field that is moving toward its minimum value. "If the >>scalar field falls down very slowly, it is nearly indistinguishable from a >>false vacuum and the universe will inflate," he said. >> >>The cosmologist recounted the response he got from fellow scientists when he >>first suggested that the universe might not have been initially hot. "They >>said, 'No, we know it must be hot!'" Similarly, when he suggested it didn't >>need to be in a condition of thermal equilibrium, colleagues responded, >>"That is unnatural. It is not as beautiful as the assumption of initial >>equilibrium!" >> >>For Linde, however, what is beautiful about chaotic inflation is its ability >>to explain how the universe may have begun using a minimum number of >>arbitrary assumptions: "You can start with any ugly part of the universe in a >>non-equilibrium state." Some regions do not inflate. But that just means they >>become insignificant. The parts that can undergo inflation, on the other >hand, >>become huge and most of the volume of the universe comes from them. >> >>Chaotic inflation "creates order out of chaos, not by destroying previous >>chaos, but by exploding those parts that are capable of becoming >non-chaotic," >>he said. >> >>An eternally self-reproducing universe >> >>Linde calls his latest variation on the inflation theme the eternally self- >>reproducing universe. He began by asking himself if the inflaton field >>would always go down. He concluded that, in very rare instances, quantum >>fluctuations would cause the field to jump up in some parts of the universe. >>These places would be extremely rare. When the inflaton field increases, >>however, some of these sites would begin inflating madly. In almost no time, >>they grow into very large regions with high scalar fields. Then, within these >>inflated regions, the process repeats itself. Quantum fluctuations strike >>again, causing the field strength to jump in a few localities, some of which >>undergo a second round of inflation. And so on, ad infinitum. >> >>"So you have those parts of the universe where the field is going down," >>Linde said. "That is the part of the universe where we live. The energy >>density is already down. But there are some areas of the universe where the >>scalar field jumps up, against the normal laws of physics. In this way the >>universe reproduces itself." >> >>While these expanding regions of the universe are inaccessible to us, they >>are still important, he said. "From the point of view of the general geometry >>of space, our part of the universe has been created, but other parts of the >>universe are still being created. If life in our part of the universe were >>to disappear, then it will appear again someplace else. So the universe as a >>whole becomes immortal." >> >> -30- >> >>[Image: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/release/990127inflate.html] >> >>This is a graphical representation of a self-reproducing universe. The >>spikes represent regions that are undergoing inflation. The different colors >>represent areas where the basic physical laws differ. For example, in one >>area electrons may be heavy and in another they may be light. Credit: Andrei >>Linde >> >> >> >
