The Big Bang

Summary

The article contemplates the enigma of the Big Bang's cause, suggesting that science often skirts around the fundamental question of what initiated the universe, ultimately resorting to the concept of a miracle—an idea typically at odds with scientific principles.

Abstract

The text delves into the mysteries surrounding the Big Bang theory, questioning the origins of this pivotal event in cosmic history. Despite the scientific community's progress in understanding the universe's expansion and the behavior of matter and energy, it acknowledges a reluctance to address the prime cause of the Big Bang. The author likens the scientific process to an intricate flow chart that inevitably leads to an unresolved central box labeled "A Miracle Happens." This reflects the scientific discomfort with the notion of miracles, which are inherently non-scientific, and the struggle to reconcile the creation of the universe with the physical laws that govern it. The article also touches upon the philosophical and religious perspectives, such as the concept of Maya from the Upanishads, which suggests that the universe may be an illusion or a grand cosmic dream. The author, Wolfstuff, concludes by leaving the reader with the unanswered question of the universe's origin, hinting at the possibility of a miracle or a deeper, undiscovered truth.

Opinions

The author suggests that science has not adequately confronted the question of what caused the Big Bang.
There is a hint of skepticism about the scientific community's avoidance of the ultimate causality question, using complex theories that ultimately rely on the unexplained.
The article implies that scientific explanations often lead to a dichotomy: matter and energy are either eternal and infinite (which science does not fully support) or they were created from nothing, which aligns with the concept of a miracle.
The author seems to critique the reliance on miracles as a deus ex machina in scientific theories, which is unsatisfactory for a field that prizes empirical evidence.
The piece muses on the possibility that the physical universe could be a grand illusion or a dream, as suggested by ancient philosophical texts like the Upanishads.
Wolfstuff expresses a personal view that the true nature of the Big Bang remains a profound mystery, and perhaps a miracle, that science has yet to unravel.

A Miracle Happens

TBB* = AMH** *The Big Bang **A Miracle Happens

It’s the one question the Physical Sciences have neither answered nor truly confronted. Even given that the Big Bang might constitute sound theory (though some jury members have yet to return), what could possibly have been its cause?

I remember a Wiley Miller cartoon some years ago (at least I think it was Wiley Miller): a young man is holding forth to seated listeners, pointing his laser pointer at this amazing maze of a whiteboard flow chart with a hundred rectangles and circles and ovals and squares and twice that number of crossing and double-crossing and angled lines (some dotted) that illustrate this intricate and revolutionary process (whatever it was supposed to be that the young man is explaining with the help of this flow chart).

On closer examination, it becomes clear that all lines eventually and somehow lead back to the center box sitting like a mother CPU in the middle of an acre of circuit board and clearly marked “AMH”. AMH, in turn, is footnoted in minute print in the lower right-hand corner of the chart:

“A Miracle Happens” say the footnote.

So much for whiteboard logic.

Or is it whiteboard logic telling the truth?

I often feel pretty much the same when it comes to the Physical Sciences. I feel as if they’re holding forth pointing here and there on this massive flow chart where everything eventually (if you pull enough strings long enough) boils down to either (a) everything that exists has always existed, i.e., matter and energy are eternal and space infinite, but Science doesn’t really hold to that; for one, anything physical by its own nature is also finite; or it boils down to (b) everything was created out of nothing and by nothing. In other words, to quote the footnote = A Miracle.

Miracles, though, are not very Science friendly, so that’s down the tube as well. Still, Science plods and ponders and points while solving one tricky problem after another (like making cellphone batteries last longer) and answering one tricky question after another (like why are molecules so small? Schrodinger, by the way, does answer that one in “What is Life?”) but never the ultimate one: Who or What Banged the Big One?

Or did a miracle happen?

Or are the Upanishads right (and have they been right all along?): It’s all a serious case of Maya. It’s all Brahman’s private mind game: dreaming and dreaming and dreaming (about a very complex whiteboard with a square box in the middle marked “AMH”).

The Big Bang

A Miracle Happens

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