The Big Bang - Before and After

Sunday, May 12, 2019
First Aired:
Sunday, August 14, 2016

What Is It

The Big Bang theory is the prevailing theory about the “birth” of the universe. It posits a singularity, or super high density state from which the entire universe expanded and continues to expand. But what exactly is the Big Bang, and what’s the evidence that it took place? How do we account for the “Big Bang state”? Was there something before the Big Bang? What does the theory posit about the future of the universe? And what role does philosophy play in answering these mysteries? John and Ken have a singular conversation with Katherine Freese from the University of Michigan, author of The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter.

Part of our seriesA Philosophical Guide to the Cosmos.

Listening Notes

The Big Bang must have been one hell of an explosion, John remarks! But Ken says that it likely wasn’t an explosion. An explosion would require matter being thrown out in all directions, and it could not have happened that way – notions like outward or centered only apply to things that happen in a place, and the Big Bang didn’t happen in a place. John is befuddled. The Big Bang happened…nowhere? How could that be, when everything happens somewhere? It’s the very notion of a priori. Ken says this applies only to things after the Big Bang. The Big Bang itself is what created space in the first place. John is still puzzled – so what’s on the other side of space, then? Furthermore, he adds, modern cosmology says the universe is expanding, so it has to be expanding into something, that something being pre-existing empty space. And what caused the Big Bang? Causes precede their effects in time! If nothing preceded the Big Bang, where did it come from? The two discuss these questions and more in the upcoming segments.

John and Ken welcome guest Katherine Freese, Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan and author ofThe Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter.约翰问凯瑟琳,是什么让她对研究宇宙起源这个艰难、深奥、深奥的问题感兴趣。她解释说,她上的是一所不提供物理课程的女子高中,所以她参加了暑期班,当他们学习爱因斯坦的相对论时,她被说服了。她在大学里主修物理,其余的都是未知的。约翰继续他的开场白:如果大爆炸不是一次爆炸,那么它到底是什么?凯瑟琳解释说,宇宙最早的时候基本上是一团由密集粒子组成的原始汤——夸克、电子、暗物质粒子等等。这些粒子不断地相互作用,随着宇宙开始冷却,其中一些粒子开始合并。凯瑟琳说,最终的结果是:宇宙开始时非常热,然后开始冷却和膨胀,产生了我们现在认识的结构——恒星、星系。膨胀不是突然的,本质上也不是爆炸。Ken然后想知道在开始的时候到底有多少空间。凯瑟琳解释说,如果宇宙是无限的,就像科学家们现在相信的那样,那么即使你把宇宙中所有的东西紧紧地挤在一起,仍然有某种程度的东西是你不能压缩的。

Ken asks Katherine about the pillars of the Big Bang. This includes wondering what the role of background microwave radiation plays in the Big Bang. Microwave radiation is everywhere, Katherine explains, and the hot early phase needed to happen to give rise to the photons that we have today. Ken also asks Katherine: what does dark matter have to do with the Big Bang? Katherine responds by adding another question to the mix: what is the universe made of? Everything – from our bodies to the stars – only adds up to 5% of the universe. So what is the other 95%? The trio discuss.

Katherine、John和Ken欢迎观众的提问,他们继续讨论,解决的问题有:元素的创造有秩序吗?“暗物质”这个命名的由来是什么?是因为我们不理解它,还是因为别的什么?

• Roving Philosophical Reporter(Seek to 7:58): Shuka Kalantari tracks down the ultimate origins of the universe with Lawrence Krauss, from Arizona State University. He discusses two theories for what came before the Big Bang: either nothing or a multiverse. He discusses how we cannot seek a cause for the Big Bang, because the notion of cause and effect is tied to space and time, which did not exist pre-Big Bang.

• 60-Second Philosopher(Seek to 48:30): Ian Shoales starts from the beginning and speeds through the role of faith in understanding the beginning of the universe.

Transcript

Comments(4)


Harold G. Neuman's picture

Harold G. Neuman

Monday, April 29, 2019 -- 12:09 PM

Revisiting the comments from

回顾2016年的评论,我想我应该看看关于这个伟大的宇宙之谜是否有什么新的东西要说。从那时起(2016年),我开始写一些带有些许哲学色彩的东西。物理学和宇宙学的伟大之处在于,这些领域为哲学思考提供了很大的空间。也是想象力其他方面的食物。在一篇名为:To Infinity, and Then Some的短文中,我参照洛克等人的一些观点,写下了我对无限意义的看法。骆家辉几乎把这个话题搞得一团糟,但他并没有真正说出什么可理解的东西。我说过,我们如何看待无限其实并不重要。它对日常生活影响不大(除非你是思想家、物理学家、宇宙学家或哲学家)。它不是一个目的地。它也不是一个目标或目的。 Neither you nor I nor anyone else will ever get there, because there is no 'there' to get to. So what about this big bang thing? Pretty much the same blind alley, seems to me. Unless understanding leads to practical applications (such as, say, interstellar travel) the science of such knowledge is nice to know---maybe even elegant, but not all that useful to the pragmatist. When we let the atomic D jinn out of his bottle, we found out, soon enough the problematic of all that. So, do not worry over the Big Bang. Unless you fear a collapsing universe. Even then, it is well to remember there is diddly you can do about it.

detail's picture

detail

Thursday, May 9, 2019 -- 4:39 AM

The problem of stating a big

说明大爆炸的问题就是根据边界条件正确地解爱因斯坦方程的问题。在这种状态下,数学上的考虑就开始发挥作用了,星系中两个带电旋转的黑洞和一个简单的电容在60秒差距的距离内被加载,尽管电容的加载在静电学中是很简单的但在一个可忽略的距离内的加载对于广义相对论来说可能是不可解的。How come that the boundary
conditions are some kind of obstruse to formulate the problem of loading a capacitor in a superfar distance of two
rotating and charged black holes. This is an astronomical event , due to the fact , that interstellar clouds can load via
friction huge amount of charges and then destore it via deloading via two cloud fronts of two interstellar clouds.
Thus the weird imagination of charging a capacitor in a large distance is set to real existing astronomical features , two clouds , producing via friction against each other the charging of a capacitor , but how to fomulate the solving of the boundary conditons for the differential forms of general relativity. Is there truly a unique solution ? Who knows , perhaps i will never perceive a glimpse to this question.

stevegoldfield's picture

stevegoldfield

Sunday, May 12, 2019 -- 11:19 AM

There is a basic

There is a basic misconception in your presentation today. Cosmologists such as Max Tegmark believe that our universe, which started with a big bang, is only one of many universes with a variety of physical laws and values for fundamental constants. The universe we live in has physical constants which allow life to evolve. There could be other such universes along with universes with no life. So, it is a mistake to speak of "the universe" when you are speaking only about our universe. These ideas spring from string and brane theory.

Molina's picture

Molina

Sunday, February 23, 2020 -- 12:46 AM

The results showed that it

The results showed that it was we can encountered to gained new information through sciences and create stories of "Big Bang" theories their description what is being said, read, heard, or viewed and supposed how the world be doing we that you don't know everything. What's the " teutonic" is yet our introspective mind like World War II targeting the destruction of the earth.We don't have the demand but it's like nuclear instincts thus could change throughout the philosophical revolution.The concern is what dominates of preserving our human freedom. The American Declaration of Independence of 1776 states. We hold these truths that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That governments among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Given the issues of the involvement and chaos of the American internationally but in the Universe known to recognize break the barrier of the history. We know the issues when its my chance to rise we could imagine our dreams. As people there's no place in the world who once sensed that they inhabited the intellectual margins of the contemporary world because war of the geo-philosophy we know that nothing can be as debilitating as the constant production of proof of one's significance. The fear is why moral reflection have always a societal contradiction by that power of the unrest differention of authority (Dahrendorf 1987).There are two possible explanations 1. It could attract our concern 2. Beyond of owning what is "big bang" theories and who created to our democracy. Because there is "hazardous" to debate of their expertize rather than our ability to maintain law and order. The benefits of conflicts for it knew now where it was going and it said to itself. There are theories were made for all people to think of metaphysical truths but irrepressibly in pursuing progress and reform. Likewise, we became normal and accordingly of the philosophers and later scientist gradually of their ideas of natural and rational order with conceptions formulations of change.In this regard, God as creator of the supernatural and His faith and his tendency to scientific reasoning.