FriendRob where do you get those options 1-3 ? 4 and 5 I’ve seen before.
But I am unaware of any scientist conjecturing that time and or space had existance without the ‘big-bang’ event. I would like to read about them.
What Was Here 5 Minutes BEFORE The Big Bang???
The Big Foreplay.
(waddya expect on a Friday afternoon?)
The big fuse lighting.
I hereby submit this thread in GQ where several helpful posters helped me answer this very question.
"If there was nothing there, then what banged?" - David Letterman interviewing an astrophysicist a few nights ago.
Just wanted to pop in and say that the answers are incredibly thought-provoking. I’m not a physicist by ANY means, and have no scientific thoughts to offer, and so while I did start this thread, I am just learning a lot reading it now- didn’t want to seem like a total Doper weirdo by doing an O.P., and then going silent.
I kind of love the fact that there are many good theories, and no possible way to know. It adds an element of the romantic to the situation.
Just wanted to pop in and say that the answers are incredibly thought-provoking. I’m not a physicist by ANY means, and have no scientific thoughts to offer, and so while I did start this thread, I am just learning a lot reading it now- didn’t want to seem like a total Doper weirdo by doing an O.P., and then going silent.
I kind of love the fact that there are many good theories, and no possible way to know. It adds an element of the romantic to the situation.
The Nibblonians were already seventeen years old.
Well, less five minutes.
This is a Futurama reference. Leela’s slobbering, endlessly-hungry, dark-matter-defecating pet, Nibbler, is actually an undercover agent of the Nibblonians, an ancient and mysterious race. At one point, an elder explains to Leela:
“When the universe was forged in the crucible of the Big Bang, our mighty race was already seventeen years old!”
Thus proving how truly impressive they are, though they continue to be fascinated by cat toys.
You know this is probably the most instructive and fascnating thread I have read in GD!
thanks for that Blow…excellent way to phrase an answer to a question I was getting ready to ask!
Bippy: #3 is the famous Hartle-Hawking “no boundaries” conjecture: there was a transition from “imaginary time” to what we consider real time via some sort of quantum tunneling. It’s mentioned in Hawking’s Brief History of Time. Try Googling “Hartle Hawking big bang” and you’ll get lots of pages.
#1 are less well-known scenarios. I think there was a recent Scientific American article that discussed them - I’ll have to check.