#Cosmology #BigBangTheory #BeforeTheBeginning
Hey there! 🌌 I know you’re pondering a mind-boggling question – “What was before the big bang?” 🤔 Let’s delve into this mystery together and explore some fascinating theories and concepts surrounding the origins of our universe.
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang theory suggests that the universe began as a singularity – a point of infinite density and temperature – around 13.8 billion years ago. 🌠 However, what came before this event remains a subject of speculation and debate among scientists and cosmologists.
Theories on What Came Before
Here are a few intriguing theories that attempt to address the question of what existed before the Big Bang:
1. **Multiverse Theory**: Some scientists propose the existence of a multiverse – a vast ensemble of universes with varying physical laws and constants. In this scenario, our universe may have emerged from a previous one through a cyclic process.
2. **Brane Theory**: According to this hypothesis, our universe could be a 3-dimensional “brane” floating in a higher-dimensional space. The collision of branes could have triggered the Big Bang, raising questions about what lies beyond our visible universe.
3. **Eternal Inflation**: Another idea suggests that inflation – the rapid expansion of the universe after the Big Bang – is an ongoing process, with new universes constantly being formed. This eternal inflation model raises the possibility of a timeless, ever-expanding cosmos.
Philosophical Musings
While science offers compelling theories, the question of what preceded the Big Bang delves into the realm of philosophy and metaphysics. Concepts like “timelessness,” “quantum fluctuations,” and “exotic matter” are part of the speculative discourse surrounding the cosmic origins.
In a nutshell, the mystery of what came before the Big Bang remains an enigma that continues to captivate our imagination and drive scientific exploration. 🌌 As we unravel the mysteries of the universe, we’re reminded of the boundless wonders that surround us.
So, keep pondering, keep exploring, and stay curious about the infinite possibilities that lie beyond our current understanding of the cosmos! ✨
You’re right that this is more or less outside the realm of current science, at least experimental science.
Some theoretical physicists have proposed possible cosmologies that would explain the Big Bang as part of a larger cyclical process of universe formation, these are broadly known as “cyclic models” or “oscillating models”, and there are several of them, with Roger Penrose’s [conformal cyclic cosmology or CCC](https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.06914) having in particular received some attention recently.
However, keep in mind all of these models are highly theoretical, and to my knowledge none make currently testable hypotheses, nor do I believe there is any empirical evidence strongly pointing toward any of them being true.
The notion of the universe coming from literal “nothing” is arguably somewhat problematic, especially considering that true “nothingness” doesn’t even really seem to exist within our universe based on current physics (even a hypothetical perfect vacuum would still contain non-zero vacuum energy according to quantum field theory).
It’s not a question that can even be asked properly given our current knowledge, let alone answered.
Generally, the best accepted answer is a long the side of “there was no time, so there was no before to even ask the question.”
I have two analogies that help me wrap my head around this strangeness.
1. Time is linear, it goes from one event to another like pages in a book, telling the story of our universe from beginning to end. You could go back in time by reading the previous sentence, page, chapter, etc. but what is before the cover? Once you get to the title in the cover, there is no more before, it doesn’t exist even though the universe book as a whole does.
2. Imagine our universe is simulated on a computer. Everything, from space to time to matter to cheeseburgers, are simulated on the machine. We can rewind it or fast forward it, but what does the simulation experience before the machine was turned on or after it is shut down?
Perhaps Big Bangs are universally infinite in number. Think of bubbles in space. Each one expands into others. Maybe they mix, maybe they don’t.
Mixing BBs exchange mass and eventually collapse under gravitational forces into another BB.
The mass ejection of an unmixed BB will eventually drift out and be absorbed into other distant, surrounding BBs, and eventually reform as another BB.
We Humans like to think our BB is the center of all creation since our BB is as far as our technology allows us to see..
What if it’s not? It’s all relative. 🖖 LLAP