The metaphysical issues are unavoidable because whatever the theory we come up with or, I think, whatever the reality is, it can only fall within 2 possibilities:
- Infinity: There is no beginning and something always precedes the 'current' step (e.g. the Big Bang occurred out of something)
- Discontinuity: There is a beginning. Everything suddenly started out of nothing.
While both options are hard to grasp for the human mind, the second one, which is the standard Big Bang also sits very uncomfortably with Physics' concepts and is the more 'disturbing' of the two. I think that's why people have been looking for alternatives to the standard Big Bang theory.
Infinity, is still unfathomable but at least it is easier to fit Maths and Physics around.
Even adding God to the mix still leads to these 2 options, because if the Universe was created by 'God' it implies that the Big Bang is not the beginning and that something (God) pre-existed. The idea that we might be in a simulation is equivalent to a creator God, just more hi-tech.
It really seems to me that these alternatives, infinity or discontinuity, are inescapable.
- Infinity: There is no beginning and something always precedes the 'current' step (e.g. the Big Bang occurred out of something)
- Discontinuity: There is a beginning. Everything suddenly started out of nothing.
While both options are hard to grasp for the human mind, the second one, which is the standard Big Bang also sits very uncomfortably with Physics' concepts and is the more 'disturbing' of the two. I think that's why people have been looking for alternatives to the standard Big Bang theory.
Infinity, is still unfathomable but at least it is easier to fit Maths and Physics around.
Even adding God to the mix still leads to these 2 options, because if the Universe was created by 'God' it implies that the Big Bang is not the beginning and that something (God) pre-existed. The idea that we might be in a simulation is equivalent to a creator God, just more hi-tech.
It really seems to me that these alternatives, infinity or discontinuity, are inescapable.