2005-05-01: What Existed Before the Big Bang?

[Robert]

This next chat session will be held on Sunday, May 1st at 7:00am Central Standard Time (CST) also known as (GMT-6). You can use the timezone converter to check your local time. Once there, just enter the day and time as specified above, then select US/Central in the "From Time Zone" column and your own location in the "To Time Zone" column, then click Convert. This will give you the time of the chat meeting in your own local time.

This will be our third official ToeQuest chat meeting. The last two chat meetings only had 2-4 participants, but I hope to get more people involved for this next one. I'll be scheduling bi-weekly meetings at alternating times: Fri-11pm, Sat-3pm, Sun-7am (Central Standard Time).

The topic for this next chat session is...

What Existed Before the Big Bang?

Lets try and stick to the topic in our main chat room. If the chat gets too far off topic, and we have a large turnout, I'll create a new chat room for the new topic and interested members can change rooms. Members can also create new chat rooms if desired.

Some questions to ponder when preparing for the chat session:

1. Does the question, "What Existed Before the Big Bang?", make any sense? Why or why not?
2. Was there a big bang? If not, what was there.
3. What initiated the big bang?
4. Was the big bang a moment in time? Or did the big bang initiate time?
5. Did nothing exist before the big bang? If so, what is nothing?

I'll probably modify the list of "questions to ponder" later, but this is a good start to get you all pondering. I'll post the first couple of hours of the chat session, as a downloadable text file to this thread, for future reference.

Please add your pre-chat comments to this thread. If there are areas relating to the posted topic that you would like to discuss, you might mention them here for others to consider before the chat meeting. Any future chat room topic suggestions should go to the suggestions thread. Also, remember to review the Chat Room Guidelines thread before engaging in Chat.

Regards,
--Robert

[Guille]

I hope more people come to this one. Maybe the day chaging does it. Although I'm probably not going to be able because it is too late (01:00 in the night) here in Spain.

don't you think the last question of the "what we should think about" is a bit of an off-subject? I mean, maybe you didn't realise when you wrote it..?

[AntonioLao]

I'm sorry to say that again I won't be able to attend the chat meeting. I'm using the internet connections at the public library and its schedule on Sundays are from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. (CST-Texas time zone).

I think the big bang was a gateway between two universes. Our universe is in a state of expansion, while the other is in a state of contraction. This gateway cannot be just a point but in fact it is the whole vacuum field itself that acts as the gateway. So every point of the vacuum of zero-point energy is an opening. So, there are infinite numbers of these openings and quantum fluctuations and vacuum polarizations have all attested that virtual energy and matter are constantly being created and annihilated at domains of high energy and very short time frame.

[Guille]

is the other universe contracting still, I mean, are both universes proportionally growing-contracting?

[Omni]

@guille: it's 13.00u then in spain so you will be able to make it.

[Guille]

@guille: it's 13.00u then in spain so you will be able to make it.

I just realised it. yes. I will. although not foor much time because it's sunday and then I have school on monday. I'll be their for one hour or so, depending on how many people go to it. I hope you do.

[Omni]

I will for sure.

[Robert]

don't you think the last question of the "what we should think about" is a bit of an off-subject? I mean, maybe you didn't realise when you wrote it..?

You're right. I did a copy past and edit of the previous chat session and did not remove this one. I've modified the original post to remove it. Thanks for catching this one.

[dcolgan]

The standard answer from Astrophysicists use to be that time began at the Big Bang so there is no before.I have always doubted that as I dont see time as either mass or energy but rather the changes of mass and energy as logged by Humans.
Robert 7 am !!! for your chat that means the wee small hours in Europe.This is after the Saturday night Big Bang and in the Twighlight Zone for most Europeans !!!

Dominic Colgan

[Omni]

Robert 7 am !!! for your chat that means the wee small hours in Europe.This is after the Saturday night Big Bang and in the Twighlight Zone for most Europeans !!!

Roberts 7 am is 13 or 14 am for Europeans.