{"id":45104,"date":"2017-12-01T17:25:48","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T00:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=45104"},"modified":"2017-12-01T18:05:34","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T01:05:34","slug":"big-bang-subsequent-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/big-bang-subsequent-things.html","title":{"rendered":"The Big Bang and a few subsequent things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Disney<\/a>
An actual photograph of the Big Bang as seen above Walt Disney World Resort, in Orlando, Florida. Color photos of the Big Bang are quite\u00a0rare. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The evolution of the universe can be likened to a display of fireworks that has just ended: some few wisps, ashes and smoke.\u00a0 Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Father Georges Lema\u00eetre, the mathematician and physicist who first formulated the concept of the \u201cBig Bang\u201d[1]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> As quoted in Martin Rees, Before the Beginning<\/em> (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1997), 47.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, it would have recollapsed before it reached its present size. On the other hand, if it had been greater by a part in a million, the universe would have expanded too rapidly for stars and planets to form.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephen Hawking<\/span><\/p>\n

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***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

No one knows who wrote the laws of physics or where they come from. Science is based on testable, reproducible evidence, and so far we cannot test the universe before the Big Bang. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Michio Kaku<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Humans are merely \u201ccomputers made of meat,\u201d there\u2019s nothing particularly mysterious about consciousness or mind, we\u2019re just around the corner from thinking robots who will be, in a sense, indistinguishable from people and will possibly deserve human rights . . . \u00a0And so forth, on and on and on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAn AI Thanksgiving Proclamation\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShould robots have \u2018rights\u2019? \u00a0As robots become increasingly popular in the tech industry, we look at whether they deserve rights.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, maybe<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

MIT Technology Review<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cProgress in AI isn\u2019t as Impressive as You Might Think: A new report gauges how far we\u2019ve come, dampening ideas that machines are approaching human-type intelligence.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The truth is out there:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow Scientists\u2019 Search for Aliens is Getting More Advanced than Ever\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a hopeful development:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGravity signals could speedily warn of big quakes and save lives: \u00a0The trick lies in capturing the weak gravitational shifts in the ground.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once again, though, it seems that there\u2019s a lot that we don\u2019t know, and that some of what we think we know may actually be wrong:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst proper motions measured for stars in a small galaxy outside Milky Way:\u00a0Findings question models of dark matter halos\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure that this is entirely reliable, but it\u2019s fun:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cData from NASA\u2019s Rover May Prove the Existence of Life on Mars\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Park City, Utah<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 The evolution of the universe can be likened to a display of fireworks that has just ended: some few wisps, ashes and smoke.\u00a0 Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds. Father Georges Lema\u00eetre, the mathematician […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Big Bang and a few subsequent things<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    The evolution of the universe can be likened to a display of fireworks that has just ended: some few wisps, ashes and smoke.\u00a0 Standing on a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/12\/big-bang-subsequent-things.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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