In the Beginning: How Many Object to Creation-Like Events?

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In summary, the conversation discusses the idea of a creation event like the Big Bang and whether or not it requires a "creator" or is simply a result of complicated circumstances. Some argue that our understanding of the universe is constantly evolving and that there may be no need for a creation event. Others question the validity of using religious or philosophical beliefs to explain cosmological phenomena. The conversation also touches on the limitations of human imagination and our ability to prove or understand certain concepts, such as what happened before the Big Bang. Overall, there is a debate about the relationship between science and faith in understanding the origins of the universe.
  • #1
Chronos
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I am curious. How many people object to a creation [like BB] event? I'm not suggesting this requires a 'creator', merely impossibly complicated circumstances.
 
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  • #2
Chronos said:
I am curious. How many people object to a creation [like BB] event? I'm not suggesting this requires a 'creator', merely impossibly complicated circumstances.

Not sure what "impossibly complicated" means.

The BB itself does not seem to be impossibly complicated, we already have models that are fairly simple and go back further in time.

(some don't require anything very exotic in the way of extra baggage: no extra dimensions, no multiverse, no colliding branes)

Assuming we can push the horizon back into time before the beginning of expansion, at what time point in the past were you thinking to place this "creation event" ["like BB" but presumably before the big bang]?

Where on the timeline would you imagine that there are the "impossibly complicated" circumstances?

=======================

It seems to me that our picture of the universe will always have areas that seem nearly impossible to understand----but I would hesitate to say we will never understand. The boundaries do get pushed back, sometimes even more quickly than one expects. So how can we call some part of our universe picture impossible to understand?
 
  • #3
I find any beginning hard to swallow, it implies a unique event, so why would a unique event
include us?
Edit

I prefer the idea that the universe has been evolving over an eternity.
 
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  • #4
wolram said:
I find any beginning hard to swallow, it implies a unique event, so why would a unique event
include us?
Edit

I prefer the idea that the universe has been evolving over an eternity.

i'm just wondering wouldn't it necessarily inolve us and our planet/solar system/galaxy etc... ?

we do exist after all.
 
  • #5
Well stated, marcus. It merely seems impossibly complicated to evolve something like a big bang because precursor events are observationally inaccessible. The events, in and of themselves, are not incomprehensible, just the landscape of possibilities.
 
  • #6
Chronos - I'm not saying this directed against you but generally when someone says something like “the universe is too complicated to have just happened, God or a creation event must be involved” my response is “Well is God too complicated to have just happened? For surely the creator is more complicated than the creation?” The concept that God had simply existed for eternity before he created the Earth/universe (or other religious creation stories I've come across) does not really push the horizon any further than what I know of cosmology.

The notion of creation doesn't seem to be incompatible with scientific cosmology but it doesn't seem to add anything to it or resolve any mysteries.
 
  • #7
Doesn't this belong in philosophy? Current scientific theories and observations neither require or are at odds with a moment of creation. Whether or not an individual 'objects' to this or not based, presumably, on their own personal philosophy or theology has no bearing on the science of cosmology.
 
  • #8
Our current understanding of quantum theory conflicts at minute scales with GR. Our current understanding of GR results in singularities on large scales, like BHs and perhaps a creation event like the BB. Singularities are not necessarily features - they may be (and probably are, IMO) bugs that point to failures in our understanding. Cosmologies that feature singularities and creation events as theoretical constructs are suspect.

Extrapolating some imagined expansion back to a BB does not prove a creation event, and calculating the GR equivalent of a very massive object to a singularity does not prove the existence of black holes. Astronomy is an an observational science, and cosmology is so far removed from astronomy that it can hardly be considered a science. There are many cheerleaders for "standard cosmology" these days and a paucity of critical thinkers practicing epistemology.

The answer is right around the next corner? Yeah, right.
 
  • #9
turbo-1 said:
Cosmologies that feature singularities and creation events as theoretical constructs are suspect.

Phew! Lucky for us the standard model of cosmology contains neither of these things.

turbo-1 said:
Extrapolating some imagined expansion back to a BB does not prove a creation event

Agreed. Again, fortunately, this is not a feature of the standard model of cosmology.

turbo-1 said:
Astronomy is an an observational science, and cosmology is so far removed from astronomy that it can hardly be considered a science.

Um, so if something is not astronomy it is not a science?? Interesting. I wonder what chemists think about that. Cosmology is very strongly an observational science that it obviously closely related to astronomy.

turbo-1 said:
There are many cheerleaders for "standard cosmology" these days and a paucity of critical thinkers practicing epistemology.

There are a lot people who like to decry a strawman version of what cosmology is, without bothering to understand the difference between cosmology and what they erroneously believe cosmology to be. Actually you could probably substitute almost any branch of science for cosmology and the previous statement still holds.

turbo-1 said:
The answer is right around the next corner? Yeah, right.

I've no idea what this statement refers to? The answer to what?
 
  • #10
well in your world there are things that we can't think with are imagination like making a new line formation that doesn't allready exsist, so it hints that's there can be a list made of the things we can or can't do at any givin point of time, and one of them is that we could never prove what happened before the big bang. there things that we can't do, just like proving to everyone that there's a creator or a point of creation. Blind faith people have in most things in life. i hope this would be posted in the correct section nexted time around, the concepts could led to better understanding of other matters of thought, and that's mainly not cosmology :/
 

1. What is the most commonly cited evidence for creation-like events?

The most commonly cited evidence for creation-like events is the complexity and diversity of living organisms on Earth. Many argue that the intricate design and functionality of living beings could not have arisen through natural processes alone.

2. Is there any scientific evidence to support creationism?

There is currently no scientific evidence to support creationism. The theory of creationism is not testable or falsifiable, which are key components of the scientific method. Therefore, it is not considered a scientific theory.

3. How do creationists explain the age of the Earth and the universe?

Creationists believe that the Earth and the universe were created by a divine being, and therefore reject the scientific estimates of their age based on geological and astronomical evidence. They often argue that the Earth and universe were created with the appearance of age, and that the Biblical account of creation should be taken literally.

4. What is the difference between creationism and intelligent design?

Creationism and intelligent design are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same. Creationism is based on religious beliefs and the idea that a divine being created the universe and all living beings. Intelligent design, on the other hand, is a pseudoscientific concept that suggests that certain features of the universe and living organisms are best explained by an intelligent cause, rather than natural processes.

5. Can creationism be taught in public schools?

No, creationism cannot be taught in public schools in the United States. The Supreme Court has ruled that teaching creationism as a scientific theory violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from promoting or favoring a particular religion. Therefore, public schools are required to teach evolution as the only scientific theory of the origin of life.

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