You keep using ‘theory’ in the common sense, not the scientific one. There are many hypotheses about what happened before the Big Bang, or even if it’s possible to speak of ‘before’; no theories.
Simple definition from wiki:
A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world and universe that can be (or a fortiori , that has been) repeatedly tested and corroborated in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluation of results. Where possible, theories are tested under controlled conditions in an experiment.[1][2] In circumstances not amenable to experimental testing, theories are evaluated through principles of abductive reasoning. Established scientific theories have withstood rigorous scrutiny and embody scientific knowledge.
The Theory of Evolution meets this definition; I don’t care what billions of religious people around the world think- it’s not something that gets to be put up for a vote, any more than the Theory of Gravitation or the Germ Theory of Disease or the Theory of Electromagnetism does.
Oh I’m well aware of the confusion around the word ‘theory’.
Evolution is a fact
Big bang is still a theory or hypothesis or guess…choose your word. Microwave background being the strongest evidence for some type of ‘bang’. Where scientists lose the common folk is telling us that it all started from an infinitesimally small point.
It’s frustrating to me that we understand so little about the nature of gravity to the point where I try not to think about it. It’s akin to being a human 5,000 years ago and watching birds fly overhead and not having the slightest clue how to fly too.
Also, the Big Bang might have been a big growth or expansion a la crystals for all we know. Most of the stuff in the universe is out of our range of comprehension and detection… for now.
The first string theory reference I came across was in James Gleick’s Chaos, and my immediate reaction was, “Who the heck thought this bullshit made sense?” In the years since that opinion has not changed.
We don’t really know. We can define what it is as a field of influence, because we know how it operates in the universe. And some scientists think that it is made up of particles called gravitons which travel at the speed of light. However, if we are to be honest, we do not know what gravity “is” in any fundamental way - we only know how it behaves.
Here is what we do know…
Gravity is a force of attraction that exists between any two masses, any two bodies, any two particles. Gravity is not just the attraction between objects and the Earth. It is an attraction that exists between all objects, everywhere in the universe. Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) discovered that a force is required to change the speed or direction of movement of an object. He also realized that the force called “gravity” must make an apple fall from a tree, or humans and animals live on the surface of our spinning planet without being flung off. Furthermore, he deduced that gravity forces exist between all objects.
Newton’s “law” of gravity is a mathematical description of the way bodies are observed to attract one another, based on many scientific experiments and observations. The gravitational equation says that the force of gravity is proportional to the product of the two masses (m1 and m2), and inversely proportional to the square of the distance (r) between their centers of mass. Mathematically speaking,
F=Gm1m2 / r2,
where G is called the Gravitational Constant. It has a value of 6.6726 x 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2.
The effect of gravity extends from each object out into space in all directions, and for an infinite distance. However, the strength of the gravitational force reduces quickly with distance. Humans are never aware of the Sun’s gravity pulling them, because the pull is so small at the distance between the Earth and Sun. Yet, it is the Sun’s gravity that keeps the Earth in its orbit! Neither are we aware of the pull of lunar gravity on our bodies, but the Moon’s gravity is responsible for the ocean tides on Earth.
– What is gravity?.
– The StarChild site is a service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), Dr. Alan Smale (Director), within the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA/GSFC.
The James Webb Space Telescope, not even finished with its first full year of observations, has delivered some real stunners. But amid the breathtaking images and unprecedented findings, there was a puzzling claim: that the telescope had detected galaxies in the incredibly young universe. Those galaxies were so massive and appeared so early that they, the headlines claimed, “broke” the Big Bang model of cosmology.
The claim went viral, but as with many things on the internet, it’s simply not true.
Now, there’s more research to back up the Big Bang. Recently, researchers took a more careful look at the data and determined that the distant galaxies discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope are, indeed, perfectly compatible with our modern understanding of cosmology.
That article is like 20 years old. We have actually measured gravitational field, and gravitational wave since then. Back in 2021 we even measured the smallest gravitational field from a 90-milligram spheres of gold, getting us near quantum level of gravitational field.
I wouldn’t say everything about gravity is known, but we are getting pretty close.
I’m not the only one who’s frustrated with the lack of knowledge of the fundamental mechanism of gravity:
“The most important result is the possibility of verifying the quantum nature of the gravitational field,” said Sawyer. “And that is so significant that you probably don’t want to dilute the message with other, subsidiary stuff.
“One reason that question has become of particular interest is that a small but apparently growing fringe of persons are questioning whether gravitons should exist,” he continued. “This is a result of frustration over unresolved technical issues in quantum general relativity that have extended over generations. I duck these issues by using some classic results from a calculable sector of the theory, results that had been deemed to be correct but too small for experimental confirmation — ever. And my innovations were strictly in the domain of applying these classic results to systems of vast numbers of simultaneously interacting acting gravitons, rather than to two gravitons interacting to form two photons.“ https://news.ucsb.edu/2020/019817/hunt-gravitons
More on the big bang theory. The Borde-Guth-Vilenkim theorem stands on solid ground: the universe had a beginning. This holds true even with multiverse theory, multiple expansion and contractions, whatever. The universe had a beginning. There’s no getting around that.
The Borde–Guth–Vilenkin theorem, or the BGV theorem, is a theorem in physical cosmology which deduces that any universe that has, on average, been expanding throughout its history cannot be infinite in the past but must have a past spacetime boundary.
Wouldn’t it be boring if we as humans knew everything? Science and new/enhanced theories are always changing with new tools and knowledge gained. It’s the nature of science to make educated guesses so others can prove or disprove the theories
Saying we understand gravity because we understand its effects but not what causes those effects or how to control them is like saying we understand a disease because we understand its symptoms but not what causes it or how to control it.
It is possible to believe in evolution from a divine creation. I wouldn’t necessarily say religion is anti-evolution, where the two avenues of thought can co-exist.
Personally, I don’t give a fuck where we come from, or where we’re going, apart from the drive-thru at lunchtime, as it’s Friday 'n’all
I know many Christians do exactly this. The Catholic church went on record as recognizing evolution as early as the 1950s. St. Augustine some 1600 years ago warned Christians about being laughed at as a result of too literally interpreting the Bible. Fast forward to today’s evangelicals in the US. Sheesh. Enjoy your Friday! Have a beer (brewed by Belgian monks preferably).
If you are looking to converse with professional scientists it’s probably unwise to look for them on a message board about Taiwan.
It could have hatched out of an egg. Is anybody looking for evidence of universal egg shell? The Big Bang might just be one giant case of confirmation bias as there is no real way to check the internal validity of the theory.
I’d say we’ve come a long way in our understanding. With AI crunching the numbers now, I bet our understanding if not the applications of our understanding will propel us quite a ways down the road.
