Pinging Alamo-Girl due to prominent mention, and because she’s one of my favorite freepers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2170270/posts?page=9#9
To: GodGunsGuts; betty boop; metmom; LeGrande; editor-surveyor; MHGinTN; TXnMA
Any thoughts on the Cosmologists who question the Big Bang (and what would seem to be the fanatical persecution of the same)?
Cosmic measurements since the 1960’s have ever been tested against the big bang/inflationary universe model. And because the model has held up to all those tests, most scientists accept the big bang/inflationary universe model. And no doubt the peer-reviewers would be extremely skeptical of theories which cannot explain away that ever increasing volume of measurements.
Hostility may follow, but I doubt to the extreme of the Intelligent Design issue.
There is a difference.
Evolution biology is a historical science much like anthropology, archeology and Egyptology. They do not have a complete record to view - i.e. not every thing that ever lived left a fossil and an artifact. So in these disciplines, the theory is the paradigm to explain the quantization of the historical continuum and is “the” test for any evidence which accumulates thereafter. Intelligent Design questions the paradigm per se claiming that “certain” features are best explained by an intelligent cause.
One could argue that physical cosmology is a historical science as well. But physical cosmology proposes many blueprints (theories) which fit the physical evidence. However, unlike evolution biology, there is no single paradigm theory for physical cosmology. Theories include imaginary time, multi-verse, multi-world, ekpyrotic, cyclic and many more. The “paradigm” in that field consists of this universe’s physical laws, physical causation and physical constants themselves.
However, if a scientist questioned that paradigm, e.g. denied the second law of thermodynamics, he might expect not only extreme skepticism but hostility as well.
In his fascinating essay, Refereed Journals: Do they ensure quality or enforce orthodoxy?, Tipler questions whether revolutionary theories (e.g. relativity) would have ever made it through the peer review process.
That is an interesting question because truly whenever a scientist assails a paradigm as opposed to a theory, he effectively attacks the entire discipline and therefore should expect the defense to include self-righteous indignation.
Conversely, as cosmologist Delaporte once noted (paraphrased): science has grown so large and become so specialized that there are precious few big thinkers these days. Or to put it another way, there are precious few scientists who are truly qualified to peer review a revolutionary theory.
I do understand the value of peer review however I strongly aver that every scientist should have an outlet for his theories, no matter how revolutionary they might be - and that he should never be punished for thinking outside the box, i.e. the paradigm.
The Founders should have specified “Freedom of Thought” instead of letting it be inferred from “Freedom of Speech.” However, in their defense, they probably did not anticipate the pervasive “political correctness” of today’s world.
A final point: the big bang theory itself is the most theological statement ever to come out of modern science (Jastrow.) Genesis 1 and John 1 both declare “In the beginning.”
All physical cosmologies require space and time for physical causation. In the absence of time, events cannot occur. In the absence of space, things cannot exist. None can obviate the need for God the Creator, the First Cause of “all that there is” who is neither time bound nor space bound, uncreated.
No matter how far back they theoretical push the historical record (e.g. multi-verse theories) - they are always relying on space and time for physical causation. Without speaking of God, they can never say how much less why there is something instead of nothing at all.
When my brothers and sisters in Christ theologically question the big bang, they are discounting this important argument. Nevertheless, we must all declare the Truth as we have received it.
I agree with Jewish physicist Gerald Schroeder - God’s revelation in Scripture and in Creation agree when one considers relativity and the big bang/inflationary model. From the inception of this universe to now, six days have elapsed relative to the inception - though from our space/time coordinates, billions of years have elapsed. The two are not mutually exclusive, they are relative. Or to put it another way, Genesis 1 is written from the Creator’s perspective - not the perspective of a creature. In my view, the perspective of Scripture does not change to man’s until Adam is banished to mortality.
9 posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 10:20:39 AM by Alamo-Girl
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I have no argument. Something doesn't come from nothing.
No doubt Cahill has and will continue to be confronted by indignation among his peers for questioning via his "process physics" the very successful postulate of four dimensional space/time.
The four dimensional space/time continuum is deeply rooted in Newtonian physics, carried over as a postulate in Relativity and subjected to many falsification attempts over the years. That the speed of light is a universal constant, the same in any inertial frame, is also a postulate of Relativity and has been subjected to many challenges over the years.
The following link summarizes the history of experiments questioning Special Relativity and its postulates, e.g. the speed of light. Both Marinov's and Cahill's experiments are mentioned and critiqued.
Evidently both models seek to integrate information theory with physics and cosmology.