When I read the editorial in the April 23 issue of Science News, I felt inspired to respond to the following questions raised by Tom Siegfried.
· What happened before the Big Bang?
· What is the Universe made of?
· Is there a theory of everything?
· Are space and time fundamental?
· What is the fate of the Universe?
To start I would like to provide some background information and my own views of the Universe and why I believe these are Philosophical and not Scientific questions.
My Views
What is the role of science?
The roll of science is to build mathematical models of observable phenomena that facilitate practitioners (engineers, physicians, etc.) in providing for the physical wellbeing of the population
What is the role of Philosophy?
The role of Philosophy is to build models of phenomena that are not observable and that cannot be explained by the scientific method to facilitate practitioners (ministers, psychologists, etc.) in providing for the emotional wellbeing of the population.
What can Science explain?
Consider a square box with a width of X light years. X is the distance to the most distant observable star. Within that box consider another box with a width of Y angstrom units. Y is the diameter of the smallest elementary particle which we have been able to detect with the most sophisticated particle detector. The space that lies between these two boxes is the space where science has a possibility of providing answers to questions posed. Science can and does extrapolate beyond this space in order to expand the capability of current observational capability, but until proven by observation, the models are suspect.
Answering the five questions
What happened before the Big Bang?
If we assume that the Big Bang theory is correct, we should ask whether this theory applies to the entire universe or just one small segment of the universe that we have been able to observe. It is certainly possible that there are multiple big bangs in a much larger universe and since they are outside our box of observables, we would have no way of knowing. Under this assumption, there are several possibilities of what happened before our big bang. Perhaps it occurred as a result of the collision of two black holes in a larger universe. As you can see, when we move outside our set of observables we can only speculate but never verify a theory.
At this point Philosophy comes in. It is often important to our emotional wellbeing to have a theory or rather a belief of what exists beyond our capabilities of scientific understanding? Since nothing can be proven, the only measure of success of the theory is whether that theory enhances our emotional wellbeing and contributes to the peace and stability of society. Religions are an attempt to do this but because many religions require participants to believe exclusively in their theory, there is competition among religions that lead to wars and destruction. This is the opposite of what they should be doing. Since we will never be able to prove the validity of any of these beliefs, why don’t we just agree as a society that any belief that does not cause harm to society is a legitimate religion and accept others beliefs to be as valid as our own.
What is the Universe made of?
We will only be able to answer this question in a small part of the universe but never totally. We continue to learn more about our immediate surroundings and this is sufficient for the time being. However, we should continue exploring the boundary of our knowledge to be able to advance our understanding and be able to cope with unexpected events that we may want to have some control over.
Is there a theory of everything?
No, but we can continue to include more and more knowledge in our models and we should do so. We should also develop new modeling techniques where the current ones are limiting our modeling capabilities.
Are space and time fundamental?
They are fundamental to our current ability to develop models. New mathematical formulations may not require space and time to be fundamental. I am very interested in the current work in String Theory which could lead to different ways of thinking about model building.
What is the fate of the Universe?
This question is really very far outside of the science box. I believe we as a society should assume that it will continue on forever in the same way it is going today. We are very certain that in some millions of years our sun will become a red giant and encompasses the earth. So we could start planning ahead to find a suitable place in the universe to continue propagating our species. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all be working toward this goal instead of wasting our resources on meaningless conflicts over insignificant differences of opinion on matters that are totally irrelevant to our physical wellbeing?
