The Beginning

[skynet]

Carl Sagan (love this guy) got me thinking after watching this;

Where did matter come from? If you answered God, then where did God come from? Was he always here? Then the Universe was always here.

However, it is difficult to imagine something as just "being here". We are taught from birth that there is a beginning, and an eventual demise. So where do we see the universe and all matter coming from?

[gfdgfd]

Nobody knows, and nobody will ever know.

[skynet]

Nobody knows, and nobody will ever know.

Its always fun to speculate and try and reason it out, just to see how mind-fucked everyone will get.

[Cal]

Nobody knows, and nobody will ever know.

[MikeQ]

Sagan is the man.

A better answer would be: Nobody knows, but we are working on it.

[gfdgfd]

Nah, no amount of evidence is going to be conclusive proof.

[Steroids]

evolution

[MikeQ]

Nah, no amount of evidence is going to be conclusive proof.

That's a baseless statement. A few hundred years ago we did not know what the building blocks of matter were. We began to look for answers, and shortly thereafter discovered atoms and nuclei. After that it was electrons. We now know there are a number of subatomic particles which comprise these particles. Moving on from there, we now have quantum theory which eloquently describes the strange behavior of particles on the atomic level. The list goes on.

To blankly say that we will never know is foolish.

[Lip Job]

Reeb is right..

[gfdgfd]

Nah, no amount of evidence is going to be conclusive proof.

That's a baseless statement. A few hundred years ago we did not know what the building blocks of matter were. We began to look for answers, and shortly thereafter discovered atoms and nuclei. After that it was electrons. We now know there are a number of subatomic particles which comprise these particles. Moving on from there, we now have quantum theory which eloquently describes the strange behavior of particles on the atomic level. The list goes on.

To blankly say that we will never know is foolish.

That's completely different, finding out what the building blocks of matter are is to do with the present, we're talking about finding out what happened billions of years ago, that could have endless amounts of possibilities, the evidence would have to be endless, there's only so far science can go.

[MikeQ]

that could have endless amounts of possibilities

There are by definition and endless number of possibilities to any unknown.

That's completely different, finding out what the building blocks of matter are is to do with the present, we're talking about finding out what happened billions of years ago

This is why we are trying to recreate the type of event it took using a particle accelerator such as the LHC. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider) You would probably be surprised how much we know about the Big Bang. The science still amazes me.

the evidence would have to be endless, there's only so far science can go.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. The evidence would have to be conclusive, yes. Endless? No. Science is a method used to logically and thoroughly test hypothoses. To put a limit on it is nonsensical.

Since Sagan was already mentioned, I thought I would share this. It is an excerpt from his book The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, accompanied by an excellent video done by Skeptic Magazine. It is a great tool to guide you in critically evaluating an argument. http://www.xenu.net/archive/baloney_detection.html

[Steroids]

u seem to know your stuff mike

[I C0NN0R I]

It annoys me that just because people can't fathom infinity, alot of them instantly assume it can't be.

I know Scientists have estimates on the age of our universe, but i mean before that. Maybe it was a void of nothing, it can't be said for sure, and as such one should be open to all possibilities.

Yer Mike it's always nice seeing your comments because i know they're going to be intelligent, not the mindless ravings of some 14 year old.

[Mikey`]

it blows my mind honestly.  my answer would be we don't know, and its highly unlikely but maybe we will find out someday.  This sounds wierd but i think there are many universes and are all bent and overlapping each other so that time and space are twisted and overlapping thus making it infinite.  idk kind of makes sense in my head.

[Flex]

that is what we decide as human beings if we choose to believe one thing or the other