My reasons for believing the universe is eternal:
In my opinion, an eternal universe can be inferred from the laws of physics.
Namely, matter is indestructible; its forms change; it can be converted into energy
and back again, but it can not go out of existence – something can not be turned
into nothing, and something can not be made from nothing. To me, these are facts
of reality, and since the universe is made of matter, it must be eternal.
The Big Bang theory is just that – a theory. In my opinion, it’s a plausible
theory, but in order to have a Big Bang in an eternal universe it would have to be
Big Bang, Big Crunch, Big Bang and on and on…
So in other words you are a better judge of physics than professional physicists and cosmologists, and you can apprehend the structure of the universe from your armchair, without doing any empirical study.
My reasons for believing the universe is eternal:
In my opinion, an eternal universe can be inferred from the laws of physics.
Namely, matter is indestructible; its forms change; it can be converted into energy
and back again, but it can not go out of existence – something can not be turned
into nothing, and something can not be made from nothing. To me, these are facts
of reality, and since the universe is made of matter, it must be eternal.
You are forgetting, or maybe do not know, something very important: the laws of physics we know did not exist when the Big Bang occurred. For the first 10^-43 second after the Big Bang the universe expanded faster than light speed, and the universe as too hot for our known physical forces to exist. As i said earlier, any ideas about what happened before then is mere speculation, which proves nothing.
The Big Bang theory is just that – a theory.
Please do not say that. It shows you do not know the meaning of the term “scientific theory.”
In my opinion, it’s a plausible
theory, but in order to have a Big Bang in an eternal universe it would have to be
Big Bang, Big Crunch, Big Bang and on and on…
So how do you explain the universe’s accelerating expansion rate?
My reasons for believing the universe is eternal:
In my opinion, an eternal universe can be inferred from the laws of physics.
Namely, matter is indestructible; its forms change; it can be converted into energy
and back again, but it can not go out of existence – something can not be turned
into nothing, and something can not be made from nothing. To me, these are facts
of reality, and since the universe is made of matter, it must be eternal.
The Big Bang theory is just that – a theory. In my opinion, it’s a plausible
theory, but in order to have a Big Bang in an eternal universe it would have to be
Big Bang, Big Crunch, Big Bang and on and on…
I suspect energy is eternal. Energy however changes it’s form. I suspect something has always existed. Maybe a prior universe, maybe something else that caused the universe to take it’s current form. Matter is a form of energy and that form can be destroyed.
Energy dissipates. In order for energy to turn into matter you need a tremendous amount of energy compressed into a very tiny area. the universe exists as a result of this process. I don’t know of any proven theory that gets us back to this starting point.
DarronS
“It shows you do not know the meaning of the term scientific theory.”
You, Sir, have no idea of what I know and do not know. You should know that virtually
all of the readers of a philosophy forum have at least one thing in common: an interest in
ideas – to our credit. Let’s try to keep it that way.
dougsmith
“So in other words, you are a better judge of physics than (some) professional physicists
and cosmologists, and you can apprehend the structure of the universe from your armchair,
without doing any empirical study.
“Am I understanding you correctly?”
Yes, and I’m proud of it.
Being as certain as possible about what one knows and does not know is crucial to the
pursuit of happiness – which is the subject of my article.
garythehuman
“Happiness is not a value, it is a state of mind…”
Yes, happiness is a state of mind. But what state of mind is of value, what is pro-life and
what is anti-life? Depression is a state of mind, and serious depression can lead to attempts
at suicide – a very real threat to life. On the other hand, happiness, besides being a reward,
can be a very real incentive to move forward.
“So in other words, you are a better judge of physics than (some) professional physicists
and cosmologists, and you can apprehend the structure of the universe from your armchair,
without doing any empirical study.
“Am I understanding you correctly?”
dougsmith
“So in other words, you are a better judge of physics than (some) professional physicists
and cosmologists, and you can apprehend the structure of the universe from your armchair,
without doing any empirical study.
“Am I understanding you correctly?”
Yes, and I’m proud of it.
Being as certain as possible about what one knows and does not know is crucial to the
pursuit of happiness – which is the subject of my article.
Now, this is not a good job of presenting your argument. To me, it sounds like you mean that you’re not all that concerned with whether or not your theories match up with reality. There’s no way of really knowing if something is true without testing it.
“So in other words, you are a better judge of physics than (some) professional physicists
and cosmologists, and you can apprehend the structure of the universe from your armchair,
without doing any empirical study.
“Am I understanding you correctly?”
Funny how, aside from bizarre comments like “to me, these are facts of reality” (fact isn’t a matter of opinion), the OP sounds uncannily like a Rand fan.
If, after you post something about science, you add ‘it’s just a theory’, you negate anything you have written before that. It shows you have no understanding of science and scientific method. It’s sort of like stating something stupid about [pick your group], and then adding “I know some [pick your group] people, some of my best friends are [pick your group].”
Objectivism holds that
- reality is an absolute, that it exists independent of the mind, and has no contradictions.
- reason is our means of identifying the facts of reality, our means of discovering
what reality can be made to do, our means of survival.
- morality is not the province of God, societies’ expectations, or personal whims, but
the province of reason – that in essence being rational is being moral, and that one should
not act on whim , but on what is in one’s long range self-interest.
- man has a right to his life and property, and that Capitalism protects these rights.
