[LibWhacker]

There was an ocillatory theory I remember reading about years ago that depended on an endless cycle of Big Bang, Big Crunch, Big Bang, Big Crunch, . . . ad infinitum. The period was conjectured to be 80 billion years. I can't remember who came up with the theory.

The thing about it that I really liked was that because time is infinite, every possible permutation of initial conditions would eventually repeat, also an infinite number of times. In other words, we've all been here before an infinite number of times and will be here in the future an infinite number of times. And not only as ourselves, but as every possible permutation of ourselves, experiencing every possible outcome to our lives . . . Someday RightWhale will be president!!! :-)

[MHGinTN]

Does this 'new theory' actually postulate a big crunch? I was under the impression that it refers to the stagnation then re-start without a crunch in the middle ... kind of like a bubble that stretches with each inserted breath, without contracting in between breaths (the breath would be the 'energy field' that is as yet un-identified, that 'breathes' into the bubble).

[RightWhale]

The million monkeys with a million typewriters hypothesis. Would they ever recreate Hamlet? Maybe that's all it is anyway.

[steve-b]

The thing about it that I really liked was that because time is infinite, every possible permutation of initial conditions would eventually repeat, also an infinite number of times.
In other words, we've all been here before an infinite number of times and will be here in the future an infinite number of times. And not only as ourselves, but as every possible permutation of ourselves, experiencing every possible outcome to our lives . . . Someday RightWhale will be president!!! :-)

And someday Clinton will be in jail. :-)

[eddie willers]

Someday RightWhale will be president!!! :-)

As Woody Allen said when asked what he'd like to come back as:

"Warren Beatty's fingertips."