Cosmic Inflation - Did It Happen?
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2015 11:02 pm
From Reasons to Believe/Hugh Ross: http://www.reasons.org/articles/cosmic- ... y-happened
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." (Psalm 19:1)
https://discussions.godandscience.org/
The British Tax system verses the United States tax system...Silvertusk wrote:Interesting article - but now the question is - was it inflation from a multiverse or not.
And what is the difference between a simple inflation and a complex inflation?
Which, ultimately, at least as in regards to the origins of whatever might have theoretically preceded the present universe, is irrelevant.Silver: Interesting article - but now the question is - was it inflation from a multiverse or not
I lover this part:Silvertusk wrote:Here is a very interesting article about the man who helped develop the theory and who now criticizes it.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cro ... -conceive/
Paul, would you please elaborate on that last point, a bit? Thanks!Paul: To me, the accidental universe idea is scientifically meaningless because it explains nothing and predicts nothing. Also, it misses the most salient fact we have learned about large-scale structure of the universe: its extraordinary simplicity when averaged over large scales.
I quote that from the article you linked.Philip wrote:Paul, would you please elaborate on that last point, a bit? Thanks!Paul: To me, the accidental universe idea is scientifically meaningless because it explains nothing and predicts nothing. Also, it misses the most salient fact we have learned about large-scale structure of the universe: its extraordinary simplicity when averaged over large scales.
.Steinhardt: My concern was that the multiverse is a ‘theory of anything’, a proposal that allows all possible cosmological outcomes (smooth or not smooth, curved or flat, etc.) and, consequently, is not subject to empirical tests. Some claim that superstring theory allows exponentially many (or perhaps infinitely many) possibilities for the fundamental laws (masses of particles, types of forces, etc.) and that there is no guiding principle to determine which set of physical laws is more probable. The sets of laws comprise what is called the “string landscape.”
Combine the inflationary multiverse with the string landscape, and now one has a ‘supertheory of anything’: both the cosmological properties and the microphysical properties of the universe are accidental and unpredictable.
As we understand superstring theory better, I truly hope we find that there are sound reasons why the physical laws we observe are naturally selected. Superstring theory, combined with an improved cosmological picture, may then lead to a powerfully explanatory and predictive theory
In order to explain the one simple universe we can see, the inflationary multiverse and accidental universe hypotheses posit an infinite variety of universes with arbitrary amounts of complexity that we cannot see. Variations on the accidental universe, such as those employing the anthropic principle, do nothing to help the situation.
Scientific ideas should be simple, explanatory, predictive. The inflationary multiverse as currently understood appears to have none of those properties.