Subj : The universe            4
To   : Todd Henson
From : Bob Eyer
Date : Wed Dec 20 2000 03:47 am

Todd Henson to Dave Oldridge, 12-19-00:
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-that there is a time (t=0) before which there are no other times.
-This is difficult for the human mind which never really has any
-experience of timelessness because once IN time all things are
-subject to the entropy increase by which we measure time.

>Yes, I understand that.  But the fact remains that if the universe
>did not always exist, if it came into being by something else,
>then it is perfectly valid to speak of that which came before it.

Coming into being of the universe by something else is merely
circumlocution for saying that something caused the universe to
exist.

But the concept of cause has no meaning unless it occurs in the
world of appearance, i.e.  in the universe.  Therefore no
empirical meaning can be attached to the question "What caused the
universe to exist?" There is no logically possible way to answer
such a question.

Therefore, the universe did not have a cause.  It had a beginning
which occurred some 15-20 billion years ago; and that beginning
was the Big Bang.

But it had no cause.  It began, simpliciter.

Bob
 
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