History of the Universe and Earth

**Tomato Cat** · 08-31-2013, 02:32 PM

Everyone I meet is friendly about their beliefs (or lack thereof). Surprisingly, it almost never comes up in discussions, given that I live in the "bible belt". Occasionally someone asks if I go to church and such. I simply say "no" and that's typically the end of it.

It's the psychotically fundamentalist policy-pushers that give everyday moderate believers a bad name. =/

**PutraenusAlivius** · 08-31-2013, 02:50 PM

Well, I deeply apologize that whole Religion scuffle thing, hopefully I didn't offend anyone.

Can we get back on topic please?

**BAndrew** · 08-31-2013, 03:21 PM

I want to apologize, too. I almost got out of control.

On topic:

The universe (let's skip the possibility of a Multiverse) is a magnificant "place"(?) full of mysteries. It even surprises me that we can grasp such complex ideas and even dare to try to understand the universe. On the other hand, we are a way for the cosmos to know itself.

I want to end with a quote from Carl Sagan. It's long, but worths the reading.

Quote:From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

~Carl Sagan

**Yuhaney** · 08-31-2013, 03:30 PM

What Prelauncher said.

I'd also like to add few fun facts which anyone can read from their own Bible.

Isaiah 40:22 ... "the circle of the earth"
Meaning that Earth is round and not flat.

Job 26:7 ... "and hangeth the earth upon nothing"
Meaning that Earth was not lying on any animals (as one theory said was true) but instead it's "hanging" on nothing.

**PutraenusAlivius** · 08-31-2013, 03:36 PM

"What happens before the Big Bang?"
"Is there another life besides on Earth?"
"What makes the Big Bang? Is it God or something else?"
"What is outside the Universe?"

"We all have questions. Questions that can't be answered. But, we are getting closer to answering at least one of them, even if it takes billions, and billions of years."

One of these questions WILL get answered, no matter the cost or time.

If Humans is really the smartest, we will get to the bottom of this.

**BAndrew** · 08-31-2013, 03:42 PM

(08-31-2013, 03:36 PM)JustAnotherPlayer Wrote: "What happens before the Big Bang?"
"Is there another life besides on Earth?"
"What makes the Big Bang? Is it God or something else?"
"What is outside the Universe?"

"We all have questions. Questions that can't be answered. But, we are getting closer to answering at least one of them, even if it takes billions, and billions of years."

One of these questions WILL get answered, no matter the cost or time.

If Humans is really the smartest, we will get to the bottom of this.

I can answer some of your questions:

Question 1: If the Big Bang is true there isn't something before the Big Bang. No time, no space, no anything. It just happened.
Question 2: It's highly possible.
Question 3: Nothing made the Big Bang. It just happened. If you are going to say that God created the Big Bang then excuse me but I'll have to ask:Where did god come from? If you say that this is an unanswerable question then why not save a step and conclude that the creation of the universe is an unanswerable question? Or if you say that God always existed why not save a step and conclude that the Universe always existed? There is no need for a creator. This is not an easy question.
Question 4: Nothing is outside the universe. Unless we are living on a Multiverse.

Bolded: Let's hope this is the case.

(08-31-2013, 03:30 PM)Scraper Wrote: What Prelauncher said.

I'd also like to add few fun facts which anyone can read from their own Bible.

Isaiah 40:22 ... "the circle of the earth"
Meaning that Earth is round and not flat.

Job 26:7 ... "and hangeth the earth upon nothing"
Meaning that Earth was not lying on any animals (as one theory said was true) but instead it's "hanging" on nothing.

Excuse me but since when a circle is a sphere?

**Deep One** · 08-31-2013, 03:49 PM

What caused the Big Bang? Radiation? Energy? Well, where did these come from?
Did God create the universe? How did he create himself out of nothing?

Aaarghh, I hate these kind of questions, makes my head hurt...

**PutraenusAlivius** · 08-31-2013, 03:50 PM

Let's just say that the Universe had a shape. Not infinite. If this is the case and we happened to get out, what happens? If there's nothing, then we're still in the Universe as there is Space.

Since the Universe is infinite, that means that the number of Galaxies and Stars are infinite and you all thought that all we can see is just that. No, there was more. As the Universe is infinite, it never ends.

And what will happen when the Universe "dies"? Like the Heat Death of the Universe or the Big Freeze theory? What will happen then? Will a new Big Bang occur and it all repeats, or when it's finished, it is finished and no life remains?

Also, what happens after Death? Can we perceive the world? What does it felt? Does it felt like nothingness? Or that you can't do anything? Or does a Heaven and Hell exist?

**Yuhaney** · 08-31-2013, 03:55 PM

(08-31-2013, 03:42 PM)BAndrew Wrote: Excuse me but since when a circle is a sphere?

To my knowledge the word used in that verse in Hebrew Bible is
"חוג", which can be translated into a 'circle' and/or 'sphere' (Google Translate).

**BAndrew** · 08-31-2013, 03:57 PM

(08-31-2013, 03:50 PM)JustAnotherPlayer Wrote: Let's just say that the Universe had a shape. Not infinite. If this is the case and we happened to get out, what happens? If there's nothing, then we're still in the Universe as there is Space.

Since the Universe is infinite, that means that the number of Galaxies and Stars are infinite and you all thought that all we can see is just that. No, there was more. As the Universe is infinite, it never ends.

And what will happen when the Universe "dies"? Like the Heat Death of the Universe or the Big Freeze theory? What will happen then? Will a new Big Bang occur and it all repeats, or when it's finished, it is finished and no life remains?

Also, what happens after Death? Can we perceive the world? What does it felt? Does it felt like nothingness? Or that you can't do anything? Or does a Heaven and Hell exist?

First paragraph: Excellent question! If the universe is not infinite, my best guess is that
if you build a spaceship and you keep on going forever you will turn back to your starting point.

Second paragraph: If the universe is infinite there is a perfect duplicate of you and me and everyone else in the universe who is reading this sentece and you both are trying to imagine each other.

Third Paragraph: The heat death is our best bet. However there are other cases depending on the universe's total density.
For more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_fa...e_universe

I don't want to dissapoint you, but life will be long gone trillions of years or more before the universe dies.

In heat death scenario time ceases to exist, everything freezes, everything ends.

Final paragraph: I don't know. But consider this: You were dead for 13.7 billion years. How was your experience?

@ Scraper

Fair enough.