Cosmology: how the universe evolved (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, June 04, 2018, 14:02 (2363 days ago) @ John Kalber

DAVID: There is no question the universe evolved from its beginning to its current composition. God does not use instant creation!

dhw: It’s good to see you defending evolution against instant creation. It is the bedrock of Darwin’s theory.

DAVID: I have always stated God uses evolution in every process.

dhw: I thought your explanation for the Cambrian was an almighty dabble of instant creation, since species appeared to spring from nowhere. But I may have misunderstood.

REBLAK: The only unquestionable certainty is that the Universe exists. As there is neither evidence nor reason to imagine the existence of a God (or other such superpower) the simple fact is that the Universe is an eternal state of being. Eternity has no beginning and no end.

Everything known (without exception) is generated by the natural forces and material substance inherent to the Universe. Whether we can or cannot yet simulate all its actions is immaterial and has no bearing whatever on its capacity to achieve.

To claim the existence of God is mere superstition. To endow this phantom with overarching power that can create something from nothing is to be party to Wizardry. If you cannot believe in the capacity of Nature (known to exist), yet acknowledge as real something that is, most decidedly, not known to exist and simply claim it has supernatural powers, well ...

To believe that you can deduce that your God chose to build the Universe a bit at a time and that you can rationally divine that choice, beggars belief!

I guess we should ignore the Big Bang. The only alternative has been a series of Bangs in which each universe has a beginning. A single universe is not eternal.