Far out cosmology (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, February 08, 2014, 20:40 (3939 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw:Tony and David have both answered this to the effect that in that case there has never been "nothing", but must always have been energy. Firstly, what that energy got up to during "always" nobody knows, but I see no reason why anyone should assume that throughout eternity until 14 billion years ago, energy stayed at zero. Hence the argument that ours might be only one of an endless series of universes. Secondly, I do not see how one can speak of "always" or "eternal energy" without linking it to time. "Always" entails reaching back into an endless past. That doesn't mean it has to be measurable in our human terms. May I suggest that it fits in very neatly with Newton's concept of time (irrespective of measurable events) as a constant flow from past to present to future?-This is a very proper interpretation. Our words are inadequate to describe a concept time without time in a sequential manner, but if it always existed without change, there is no sequence of events and therefore it is timelessly eternal.