Cosmology; Hawking's theory of a beginning (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, March 04, 2018, 12:40 (2457 days ago) @ David Turell

"In a lecture on the no-boundary proposal, Hawking wrote: "Events before the Big Bang are simply not defined, because there's no way one could measure what happened at them. Since events before the Big Bang have no observational consequences, one may as well cut them out of the theory, and say that time began at the Big Bang." (David's bold)

DAVID’s comment: If time began at the Big Bang (that is the time of our reality) it looks like a creation to us. Of course, scientists can't bring in God as creator, but it is a piece of the evidence for God.

Time is whatever you define it to be. I define it as a sequence of before-now-after. The fact that we can't observe the consequences of events before the BB (if it happened) does not mean there was no before, i.e. no cause, cause of the cause etc. You and I would agree on that, I think. Presumably, since he is an atheist, Hawking is convinced there is no point in considering any theory that cannot be verified by observation, because the universe consists only of its materials. That should be anathema to you, so I don't quite know why you're quoting him with such boldness. As for evidence, however, the Big Bang (if it happened) is no more evidence for a God than it is for chance, though no doubt you and Hawking would disagree - you one way and he the other.