The universe began with the Big Bang, right? But how did this chaotic, random event lead to an ordered, balanced universe? Recognizing this problem, in the 1980′s, cosmologists developed a new theory called the inflationary Big Bang. This new model called for the early universe to inflate at super-warp speed in the blink of an eye; if this occurred, cosmologists said, it would be possible for the Big Bang to have produced the universe we live in without needing finely-tuned initial conditions. So the inflationary Big Bang made its way into college textbooks, television documentaries, and popular science books. Professor Paul Steinhardt, of Princeton University, is one of the leading theorists who refined the inflationary model into the form it appears today. In a recent Scientific American article, however, Professor Steinhardt raises serious doubts over the inflationary model, showing that it actually requires more fine-tuning than the original Big Bang...
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The answer most people would likely give to the question of how the universe began is, the “Big Bang.” But it’s a fair guess that this same group of people do not know what the Big Bang is, or that it has in fact been replaced by another model known as the inflationary Big Bang. The interesting part of this story is why cosmologists decided to revise the standard Big Bang model in the first place. It turns out that the original Big Bang possessed a number of features that deeply perplexed scientific theorists. Two of these features are the smoothness problem and the flatness problem. Without getting into unnecessary details, the smoothness problem arises as a result of the near uniformity of the so-called cosmic background radiation — the supposed “afterglow” from the Big Bang. This background radiation happens to be uniform across the celestial sphere to 1 part in 100,000. How is...
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Materialism, the doctrine that the entire cosmos and all living things can ultimately be reduced to mindless stuff, has many fundamental flaws. Here is one of them: Even in the mindless, God-less, designer-less worldview of materialism, a mind is still present. Where is this mind? In the head of a scientific theorist who imagines that the intelligence and organizational ability of matter is much more creative than it could ever be on its own. Let me provide a bit more detail. At bottom, material scientists believe they can explain the entire universe using only matter and the laws of nature. The laws of nature are necessary to give order and regularity to the dust that would otherwise scatter in the wind. For example, the laws of gravity, chemistry, quantum theory, and nuclear fission are considered among those responsible for sculpting the large-scale structure of the cosmos, such...
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Science deals with the real world; mysticism, with the spiritual world. Science is based upon testable facts and logical deductions; mysticism, upon wispy thoughts, dreams, and hopes. But is there a deeper connection that we are missing? Notably, science too is filled with mysteries – the origin of matter, the laws of nature, the fine-tuning of the fundamental constants, the origin of life, to name a few. Is mysticism an integral part of the world? This week’s guest, Jude Currivan, of the UK, is a cosmologist, author (HOPE: Healing our People and Earth), and mystic. She joins host Philip Mereton in a wide-open conversation about reconciling the worlds of science and mysticism. Listen to this episode ...
On this show we go to the land down under to talk with Brian Creigh, publisher of the Austrialian magazine, Veritas. Calling itself the “world’s most complete consciousness magazine,” Veritas features regular interviews with leaders in the “new consciousness” movement, such as Neale Donald Walsch, Amit Goswami, and Gregg Braden. It offers a unique mix of mind-expanding and health-focused content, while at the same time fulflling one of Brian’s objectives, which is to remain grounded in the real world. Brian joins host Philip Mereton to talk about why Veritas seems to have struck a cord in our rising consciousness. Listen to this episode...