Where can I buy some? Wal-Mart?
Posted on 04/25/2002 2:34:20 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts
How did the universe begin, and how will it end? Among cosmologists, the mainstream belief is that the universe began with a bang billions of years ago, and will fizzle out billions of years from now. But two theorists have just fired their latest volley at that belief, saying there could be a timeless cycle of expansion and contraction. It’s an idea as old as Hinduism, updated for the 21st century.
THE “CYCLIC MODEL,” developed by Princeton University’s Paul Steinhardt and Cambridge University’s Neil Turok, made its highest-profile appearance yet Thursday on Science Express, the Web site for the journal Science. But past incarnations of the idea have been hotly debated within the cosmological community for the past year — and Steinhardt acknowledges that he has an uphill battle on his hands.
“It will take people a while to get used to it,” he told MSNBC.com. “This introduces a number of concepts that are quite unfamiliar, even to a cosmologist.”
TINKERING WITH THE COSMOS
Years ago, Steinhardt played a prominent role in formulating what is now the most widely accepted scientific picture of the universe’s beginnings, known as inflationary Big Bang theory: that a vanishingly small quantum fluctuation gave rise in an instant to an inflated region of space-time, kicking off an expansion that is now picking up speed.
The model has weathered repeated experimental tests, including studies of patterns in the microwave “afterglow” of the Big Bang.
“All the competing models were knocked off,” Steinhardt said. “So we had a situation where it looked as if we had converged on a single idea. But I was always disturbed by the idea that there were no competitors around.”
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Where can I buy some? Wal-Mart?
What would you say if I claimed I was the reincarnation of Napoleon, yet I simply did not possess his memories?
What is Self, other than the compilation of our memories, anyway? If you lost all of your memory, and had to start from scratch, would you still be "you"? Why could it not be said that you are a reincarnated Napoleon who has to learn everything all over again?
Sorry to get serious again. Actually, I'm sorry for asking so many questions in one post.
Balderdash! Actually, it is a little-known fact that reincarnation works backwards in time, so that I will one day be re-born as Napoleon. His greatness was because he will be me in a later life.
If you persist in this shabby attempt at identity theft, I shall have to press the abuse button.
Just log on to FR. Every post contains part of the answer. It's FRee.
You realize that you're speaking to Napoleon, don't you?
If I owed money, the answer would be "Yes."
Is it impossible for me to be Napoleon without those memories, or is their something else which defines Self?
Well Nappie meet my friend Arthur Wellesley.
Occam's Razor without a blade...
Not if space-time was created at the big bang.
And I am Spartacus!
Yeah! And the Earth is flat. Any moron can see that.
When you discover that there are some truths that aren't intuitive, you will be a wiser man.
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