Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Big Bang Redux
Speculating about the origin of the universe beats parsing the state of the economy. This article posits possible “proof” of a bubble universe theory, one universe exfoliating from the other. This seems as likely as the angels dancing on the head of the pin stuff. Which unfortunately, and ironically, seems to be the direction science is drifting, as it simultaneously decries the irrationality of religion — it devolves to “scientism”.
Admittedly, much of 20th and 21st century science is counter-intuitive, on the macro and micro scales anyway, but some of the mathematical modeling in theoretical physics seems exponential self-indulgence. I have to admit that the author rubs the wrong way; Sean Carroll, in a bloggingheads.tv discussion, when asked why physics departments don't hire people who are skeptical of string theory and its variants — theoretical models without any possibility of proof, although they claim the new CERN collider will provide some proof — Carroll said, “Why should we hire them when we think we are right?” Does that sound like science, or guild speak?
Their model suggests that new universes could be created spontaneously from apparently empty space. From inside the parent universe, the event would be surprisingly unspectacular.
Speaking of science, here is an article explaining how you can spot a doctored digital photo.