Ben Goertzel (ben@goertzel.org)
Mon, 05 Apr 1999 11:34:35 -0400
> The problem is that the Big Bang introduces more problems than it
>explains. It postulates a unique "beginning" and "end" to spacetime.
>There are more facts to be accounted for that the Big Bang with its
>"dark matter" and "cosmic strings" and inflatons can deal with. It
>reminds one of the epicycle theory! ;) There is evidence from the plasma
>physics community that galaxies, quasars and even gamma ray bursters can
>be explained nicely using their formalisms without any unobservables at
>all! "Ghost galaxies" indeed!
Just to clarify
-- dark matter is not a logically a consequence of the big bang, it's a
consequence of some
extra assumptions that people make
-- cosmic strings are not needed for the big bang
I'm not wedded to the big bang theory. However, it was the discovery of
the cosmic
background radiation that caused most steady state theorists to give up
(pretty much
all but Hoyle and Narlikar, who developed the steady state theory initially ;)
This one particular empirical observation very strongly supports the big
bang, and I know
of no alternative explanation. If we can find one, that's great.
ben
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