The Big Bang (Origins)

by dhw, Sunday, May 02, 2010, 12:12 (5317 days ago) @ David Turell

George has argued that our universe of space-time came from nothing, and there was no "before", i.e. there was literally nothing in existence before the Big Bang. David appears to agree, except that George's concept does not, of course, include the presence of a universal intelligence. David describes this as follows:-"An eternal first cause, not in time, as we perceive it. The UI always exists, and creates universes at will. No other concept fits my view. The Big Bang is a 'first event' in a new universe creating space and time (as we view it), there is no time without space before BB."-What I'm about to say is meant solely as an attempt to get clarification, because I find your agreement with George confusing. First of all, even if we're not talking in terms of space-time as we perceive/view it, why not at least in terms of before and after the Big Bang? Your suggestion that BB was a "first event in a new universe" is very different from George's claim that nothing existed before it. If a UI created a new universe, then logically the UI existed before it, as did/do other universes you say God creates at will (unless ours marked his debut). If I believed in an eternal UI, I would certainly expect him to have done something else before he came up with us and our universe, but this is the opposite of George's belief that nothing preceded the BB. It is also the opposite of your earlier scepticism ... again in agreement with George ... concerning the multiverse theory, which you were not prepared to accept without evidence. George says that talk of "before" is meaningless. He may be right, but it seems to me that without a "before" you can't have a UI.-The dislocation in my own thinking is very apparent when I struggle to come to terms with what for me is the inconceivable idea of an eternal UI, and then read the article you recommended on
 
http://procrustes.blogtownhall.com/2010/04/27/homochirality_and_darwin.thtml -This once again demonstrates how equally inconceivable is the idea of a self-assembled mechanism for life.