New data has come in regarding the ultimate fate of the universe. The former consensus was that it would continue to expand literally FOREVER — and end in ice. But new calculations show that the expansion is slowing enough so that everything will eventually return to a Big Crunch, and possibly start again — an end in fire. Why do some of us find that somehow… REASSURING?
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When Steve said “atoms the size of galaxies”, I was thinking “neutron the size of Cygnus”.
Then I realized that he meant a normal sized neutron, but the Proton is a far away as Pluto is from the sun, and the electrons are spread out as far as Tau Ceti.
That’s the wearing out of the strong nuclear force.
Bill, can I have the lawn chair next to yours for the big show?
The real difference between creationist cosmology and Atheist cosmology is that they both believe that the speed of time can vary from place to place and over time itself but the Atheist cosmologist wont tell their students the obvious implication. When we look at the stars we are not looking back in time we are looking at things, places and events that are billions of years faster early in creation. The evolutionist stops the stop watch billions of years ago and declares time cosmologically universal. The creationist allows the cosmological time speed mismatch go until 4004 BC with a trillion… Read more »
Are you competing with Commie Donnie LeHoux for the title of Right Angle Wack-a-doodle?
Because that post definitely put you in the running…
I am a firm believer that God created the universe as a necessary “ingredient” for his creation of mankind. After all, we need a universe into which or material bodies can exist, and also to provide material from which our bodies are can spring. Now that we exist (materially), one could argue that the universe has done its job. Meanwhile, our immortal souls are not of this universe and do not require a universe. Meanwhile, I fancy our time here, in the material world, as a sort of distillation process for our souls. I imagine our spiritual existence will continue… Read more »
Data supporting open, closed and oscillating universes have been around, and in alternating favor, for decades. So this really isn’t new. However, there is one thing that is very interesting about the properties of a contracting universe. This interesting thing I speak of is related to the theory that time itself is a consequence of the expansion of the universe. I can’t describe it accurately enough here, because it requires a four-dimensional model and the intersection of a three-dimensional universe moving through the fourth. Anyway, it appears that, as the universe contracts, our movement along the forth dimension will reverse… Read more »
As to the Big Bang:
“Modern science is based on the principle: ‘Give us one free miracle and we will explain the rest.’
Terence McKenna
The Big Bang was the handclap of God.
In April 1984 I hit a tractor trailer truck parked across 2 lanes of a road on the other side of a hill on my motorcycle. I have no habits so I was not having a drugged induced episode, I am all about being healthy. I was doing only 40 MPH in a 45 MPH, it was drizzling. I remembering realizing that I was going to hit him so I locked up the rear tire and started to lay the motorcycle down. The next thing I remember is that I am walking and it is all white around me, like… Read more »
So you claim to have gotten a second chance and yet you still clearly have not learned your lesson. How disappointing. Because … We all know YOU didn’t write that Komrade lil’ Kommie Donny, those are not your words even though you deceptively claim them. YOU have never posted even one single comment here that you wrote yourself which was that coherent, spelled properly, correctly punctuated and capitalized and grammatically correct. As you were … you did write some of that. You wrote only the last sentence. Which is missing proper capitalization and punctuation and should have been a new… Read more »
I had a similar experience (three times, in fact) that I attribute to my guardian angel. The first was most similar to yours. I was driving an old ’59 Beetle on a four-lane road (2 east-bound, 2 west-bound lanes) in Detroit. I was coming up to a railroad track. The gate was down, a train was passing, and cars were lined up about eight cars deep in both lanes. I applied my breaks, but there was nothing. I couldn’t stop. I was pumping my breaks like madman, but nothing. Just as I was about to crash into the line of… Read more »
The oscillating universe reminds me of what the late Douglas Adams wrote (I believe it was in the first book of the series, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”): some believe that at some point the universe will disappear and a more chaotic one will appear. There are others who believe this has happened.”
To quote Woody Allen “ if life is meaningless and the universe will end, I definitely paid too much for my carpet!”
Stanley, I was going to suggest the same story.
I think that 30-40 billion year oscillation of collapse and rebirth must be God’s heartbeat.