Posted on 11/29/2006 4:19:47 PM PST by LibWhacker
Is this a joke? No, say a bunch of physicists. One day, it may be possible for a person to create a universe!
This is not going to happen tomorrow. Not even close. But according to Columbia University physics professor Brian Greene, it is theoretically not impossible (which is his way of saying the possibilities are not zero) that one day, a person could build a universe.
The very idea is so startling it's hard to know what this means.
Think about it this way: One day (far off, no doubt), it may be possible to go into a laboratory on Earth, create a "seed" -- a device that could grow into a universe -- and then there would have to be a way to get that seed, on command, to safely expand into a separate, infinite, unexplorable but very real alternate universe.
Got that?
This isn't Greene's notion. But he was willing to describe, in very broad outline, how it might work.
The seed, he suggests, could be a black hole. Not the big black holes that sit near the centers of so many galaxies, but what he calls a "mini black hole." Black holes, he says, don't have to be big. They can, in theory, be very small.
I asked him how small, and together we conducted an imaginary (very imaginary) experiment. If you listen to my interview, you will hear us build a mini black hole from an ordinary watermelon.
It's a fanciful experiment done with imaginary sound effects, but it playfully suggests these mini black holes might be manufactured one day. There may even be a real-life attempt. Plans are afoot to detect mini black holes at the new Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.
Greene also describes a kind of energy, called a "repulsive force," that might be capable of turning that seed into a new universe. The problem is, no one is yet sure how this force works or why. But Eduardo Guendelman, a physicist at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel, and Nobuyuki Sakai and his team at Yamagata University in Japan are working on the problem right now.
But suppose it is possible to create something that grows infinitely and becomes a universe somewhere else, why do it if you can't go and visit your creation? If you can't pop in, take a look and come back, why bother?
In the July 8, 2006 issue, New Scientist writer Zeeya Merali put that question to Stanford cosmologist Andre Linde.
"I sat down and really thought about why we should even care about creating a universe in the laboratory, " he told New Scientist, "We don't seem to be able to communicate with it at all."
Once it's formed, the inventor couldn't meet its inhabitants, mine its minerals, collect souvenirs or judge his or her success. The biblical god who many believe created our universe inspected us on the first through sixth day and decided that what He'd done "was good."
That's not an option for the human scientist who creates.
So why do it? Well, Greene says given the chance to make a universe of his own, "I might have a little trouble resisting this possibility. Just because it's so curious, this idea that because of your volitional act, you are creating a universe that could give rise, perhaps, to things we see around us."
Linde seconded that in his New Scientist interview.
"Just imagine if it's true and there's even a small chance it really could work," he said. "In this perspective, each of us can become a god."
Oh, the vanity of it all!
Rom 1:21-22
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
NASU
I think Inflation is by far the top candidate based on the latest observations.
As more extra-solar planets are discovered, "solar system" is also similarly misused.
We might, following Einstein, say a universe is an inertial space where the laws of physics are uniform in all directions. If there is another inertial space with different laws of physics, it would be a different universe. That is, defining universe as 'all there is' would do away with regimes of physical laws and destroy some possible utility of the word. The term 'world' could remain as 'all there is,' or we might use the neologism 'multiverse,' which ought to be reserved for further possibilities IMHO.
Many acknowledge that Genesis does not claim the making of something out of nothing. Even taking Ge 1:1 as part of the process rather than a chapter heading, it does not say 'out of nothing.'
In the future, Man's knowledge grows mightily ... as does his conceit.
Man: "God, my wisdom has grown to match your own. I challenge you to a contest of making New Man!"
God: "Ok."
[God reaches down and forms a New Man from the dust of the earth.]
Man: "That's nice. My turn!"
[Man reaches down to the dust of the earth.]
God: "Get your own dirt."
Particles and waves are the same, merely perceived differently at our limited scale of observation.
The human brain is about 2 pounds of goop.
The universe is much larger.
>>Is this a joke? No, say a bunch of physicists. One day, it may be possible for a person to create a universe! <<
And if you do, and there are people in it, and one of them says that their universe was created, the "scientists there will say "THAT'S NOT SCIENCE!".
>.Philosophers' heads are probably exploding as they read this.<<
Those who refuse to even consider intelligent design will most definitely be required to have their heads explode.
And isn't it a profound realization that conscious beings increasingly understand nature to increasingly control nature, up to and beyond creating Universes is the nature of conscious beings. That conscious humans are in early infancy of coming into their own. That matter and energy -- two macro components of existence -- alone are destined to cycle infinitely with nothing uniquely new being created Yet with the third macro component of existence -- conscious beings -- limitless new realms of existence are created.
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You grossly miss my point.
Again:
The human brain is two pounds of goop.
The universe is much bigger.
While 'tis remarkable how much of the latter can be comprehended and manipulated by the former, 'tis a sign of madness to think that lump can "create Universes".
You grossly miss my point.
I missed nothing. I knew the limitations you impose upon yourself, your thinking. I merely chose not to play into them.
"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours." -- Richard Bach
And this: Ignorance is easily dispelled.
Someone needs a pass thru the Total Perspective Vortex...
You lost me. But if you think it will help you, go for it.
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