3 Theories That Might Blow Up the Big Bang

[Egaladeist]

Steinhardt and Turok—working closely with a few like-minded colleagues—have now developed these insights into a thorough alternative to the prevailing, Genesis-like view of cosmology. According to the Big Bang theory, the whole universe emerged during a single moment some 13.7 billion years ago. In the competing theory, our universe generates and regenerates itself in an endless cycle of creation. The latest version of the cyclic model even matches key pieces of observational evidence supporting the older view.

This is the most detailed challenge yet to the 40-year-old orthodoxy of the Big Bang. Some researchers go further and envision a type of infinite time that plays out not just in this universe but in a multiverse—a multitude of universes, each with its own laws of physics and its own life story. Still others seek to revise the very idea of time, rendering the concept of a “beginning” meaningless.

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/apr/25 ... t:int=3&-C

[SirDice]

I like the multidimensional membrane idea.. I've watched season 1 and 2 of The Universe, aired on the History channel. Quite interesting and informative.

I get the E=mc^2.. I get the whole relativity thing to a certain degree..
The physics behind it.. Even some of the quantum physics..

The key is preservation of energy..
Energy or matter (as einstein said, they're both the same) doesn't spontaneously exist..
So there must have been something before the big bang..

I like the idea of ripples in the membrane, when they collide, it generates humongous amounts of energy..
Orders of magnitude more then when matter and anti-matter would collide..

None of the 3 theories blows up the big bang though.. The big bang happened.. No doubt about that..
It's the why and how that should keep theologians and physicist busy for a while

[Aspman]

Still others seek to revise the very idea of time, rendering the concept of a “beginning” meaningless.

Now that is a brain noodler. There was no before, there is no after or now, time is an artefact of the conditions in this universe. I think I heard a philosopher explode somewhere.