What was there before the ‘big bang?’ A very interesting philosophical and scientific question, to be sure! Scientists will demur, saying that only with the ‘big bang’ does science actually begin. Everything and anything prior to that is not in the realm of science. But it is in the realm of our thought. Surely, there was a ‘something’ before the ‘big bang.’ If not, are we real or are we illusion? Quantum physics has raised far more questions than it has answered, but one extrapolation of quantum findings might suggest that there is no definable difference between what exists and what does not. If that should be the case, what are we? — men who dream of being butterflies, or butterflies dreaming ourselves to be men? And, if either, where and why?
If we’re just an illusion, is empirical science an illusion?
Are we having an illusion that we are illusory in reality?
Oh, my head is beginning to hurt. Now is that pain, or
just a chemical reacton in my brain/neuron interface?
...and quit calling us Shirley!
Not surely.
In the beginning was the Word. Works for me.
The problem is that time itself was created in the big bang along with space. So there was no "before" to come before time was created. It's like asking what were your thoughts before your dad's sperm inseminated your mom's egg. There wasn't yet a "you" there to have thoughts. There was no time before the big bang created time-space.
Beginning in the fifties, at the ripe old age of seven or eight years of age, I would often think of how anything could be endless in terms of time and space. It boggled my young mind. If nothing were the answer, and nothing is indeed something, it boggled my mind even further.
I look forward to the possible mental exercise the program could present and the conclusions it could lead viewers to consider. This thread might prove very interesting after the program airs.
The Big Movie and Dinner Date.