Evidence for pre Big Bang physical universe?

[pywakit]

There are lots of things that happened in the early universe that clearly violate physics as it currently exists. To give one example, every particle interaction that has ever been observed produces equal amounts of matter and antimatter, but its clear that happened at one point in the early universe.

Known physics often turns out to be wrong when you end up in some different observational area.



There is a difference between saying that X is the situation, and we cannot rule out X. I see no reason to assume that infinite space does not exist, but at the same time I see no reason to assume that infinite space *does* exist.

Also there *are* theoretical reasons to believe that other universes would operate under completely different physics. One of the things that comes out of high energy physics theory that coupling constants such as the relative strength between weak and strong forces or the fine structure constants are basically random, and that if you were to redo the BB, the dice would get rerolled and you'd end up with different weak/strong force and fine structure constants.

The fact that we have a large section of the universe with similar physical laws is an artifact of inflation. You had a small area of space in which the law of physics worked a certain way, and for reasons we don't completely understand, that small region of space very rapidly expanded to form the entire universe. The consequence of this view is that other pre-inflationary regions of space would have had every different physical constants.

Don't have time to properly reply right now, but didn't Einstein state that "god doesn't play dice with the universe"?

It is interesting to me that you say "I'm trying to avoid making any assumptions that are not based on observational evidence". Isn't this exactly what the whole SETI study is based on? Making assumptions based on zero evidence? We made the assumption that other molecular chains 'could' or 'would' culminate in life, when all the evidence we have says that only DNA will do it. We also made the assumption that 'all life will evolve to ( or past ) radio technology', when the evidence in front of us clearly shows billions of life forms that could never achieve such heights. Sharks have been around for 350 million years. Think if left to their own devices they might have cell phones in another 350 million? I think not. It's one thing to assume life will flourish under the proper conditions. It's quite another to assume that life will evolve to our form, or some other form capable of achieving the same things.

Since life first developed here 3.8 billion years ago, as many as 7 billion species have come and gone. Many had 10s of millions to 100s of millions of years to achieve radio. None did. Within our own species, homosapiens ... who came on the scene about 300,000 years ago ... how many were responsible for radio? .0000000001%? 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, at the time of the great migration, we were beating on drums, and tending goats. Those who did not migrate are still beating on drums, and tending goats. 50,000 years and they couldn't even come up with the wheel.

If not for the most serendipitous of events, we would have been knocked out of the sky. If not for the most serendipitous of events, dinos would still own this planet. And if I'm not mistaken, all those fairly large brained creatures coudn't come up with a wheel either in a couple hundred millions of years.

SETI had nothing to do with scientific observations and everything to do with 'dreams' and 'wishes'. Obviously they were not paying any attention to the 'observational evidence'.

I have other complaints ( as in issues with your 'purist' logic ) but they will have to wait ...

 

[twofish-quant]

Don't have time to properly reply right now, but didn't Einstein state that "god doesn't play dice with the universe"?

Yes. And Niels Bohr replied "Einstein, don't tell God what to do."

Isn't this exactly what the whole SETI study is based on? Making assumptions based on zero evidence?

I said I'm trying to. Sometimes you have to make a guess, at which point you just flip a coin and go with it. If someone asks me whether there are other intelligent beings in the universe. I'll just flip a coin and give you the answer, since based on what I know that answer is as good as any that involves thought.

SETI had nothing to do with scientific observations and everything to do with 'dreams' and 'wishes'.

There's nothing wrong with dreams and wishful thinking as long as you realize that you are dreaming and doing wishful thinking. Sometimes if you are lucky wishes and dreams do come true, sometimes they aren't.