Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs • Hacker News Board

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#71

Post by Ekaros » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:09 PM UTC

m3kw9 wrote: post #22

Then how did the first one came about? What was there before it, pls don’t tell me nothing because it was nothing for a long time and then something must have triggered the first one. Or was there no first one because of infinity?

That is rather hard question. If we take that anything must have come from something. We might be for example simulation, but the place running the simulation then must have come from somewhere and so on...

Maybe cyclicality or just from nothing are only real answers. Illogical as they may seem, in the end something from absolutely nothing would probably solve the problem.

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#72

Post by rdtsc » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:09 PM UTC

GalenErso wrote: post #5

I know HN hates religion, but after being an atheist all my life, and graduating with a STEM degree (the 'S' part) from a top tier institution, I've started in the last year or so to turn to the church (Roman Catholic) and theism, both to find answers to some of life's mysteries, such as the origin of the Universe, and for personal reasons (I plan to start my initiation, starting with a baptism, within the next year…

Just wanted to commend you for sharing your experience. It's not something that's popular on HN and, as expected, was immediately followed with "you probably have a brain tumor for doing it" comments. So wanted to counter-balance that and let you know that not everyone is as hostile and mean-spirited.

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#73

Post by oldstrangers » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

GalenErso wrote: post #5

I know HN hates religion, but after being an atheist all my life, and graduating with a STEM degree (the 'S' part) from a top tier institution, I've started in the last year or so to turn to the church (Roman Catholic) and theism, both to find answers to some of life's mysteries, such as the origin of the Universe, and for personal reasons (I plan to start my initiation, starting with a baptism, within the next year…

I think religion is great for a large majority of people that don't want to put in the painful existential work necessary to arrive at some more profound understanding of life. It feels like a shortcut, and you can certainly find your own spiritual beliefs without the aid of the Catholic Church.

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#74

Post by JumpCrisscross » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

karaterobot wrote: post #51

I think the tone of the article is a bit too judgmental. He himself called it a 'crazy theory'. I took it to be a pet theory he thinks is interesting, personally would like to believe in, but knows he can't prove. We've all got some of those, there's room to talk about them without being called a crank.

> he himself called it a 'crazy theory'

Correct. The press is adding unwarranted gravitas. I'd file CCC next to the one-electron universe.

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#75

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#76

Post by RhodesianHunter » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:15 PM UTC

markhahn wrote: post #54

est31 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this suggestion is practically impossible to prove (or disprove), and quite fringe, but the listed examples in that article are usually of things people suggested outside of their field after they got the Nobel prize, and often things that were quite easily disproved at the time of suggestion. Meanwhile Penrose suggested CCC (2006) way before he received the Nobel prize (2020). Also, cosmology is Penrose's resea…

what happened before this universe is not cosmology, but religion, and that's not Penrose's field. neither is neuroscience, where he's giving air to similarly unsupported ideas.

>what happened before this universe is not cosmology, but religion

Absolute nonsense

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#77

Post by dctoedt » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:18 PM UTC

dctoedt wrote: post #46

GalenErso wrote: post #5

I know HN hates religion, but after being an atheist all my life, and graduating with a STEM degree (the 'S' part) from a top tier institution, I've started in the last year or so to turn to the church (Roman Catholic) and theism, both to find answers to some of life's mysteries, such as the origin of the Universe, and for personal reasons (I plan to start my initiation, starting with a baptism, within the next year…

I hear you: I've got a STEM background as well, and for many years I was a Catholic-raised agnostic, having bailed from belief at age 12 (and having been skeptical starting at age 5). In later life I worked my way back around to sort of a general agnosto-monotheism, to coin a phrase, and am now at least nominally an Episcopalian (I married one). I did a lot of thinking and writing on the subject and concluded that we…

Supplement to the above: "Why I Still Call Myself a Christian and an Episcopalian" — https://www.questioningchristian.com/2005/05/why_i_call_myse...

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#78

Post by _a_a_a_ » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:22 PM UTC

rdtsc wrote: post #72

GalenErso wrote: post #5

I know HN hates religion, but after being an atheist all my life, and graduating with a STEM degree (the 'S' part) from a top tier institution, I've started in the last year or so to turn to the church (Roman Catholic) and theism, both to find answers to some of life's mysteries, such as the origin of the Universe, and for personal reasons (I plan to start my initiation, starting with a baptism, within the next year…

Just wanted to commend you for sharing your experience. It's not something that's popular on HN and, as expected, was immediately followed with "you probably have a brain tumor for doing it" comments. So wanted to counter-balance that and let you know that not everyone is as hostile and mean-spirited.

I'd say this kind of thing is not popular on HN because it had very little useful information content, and if he knew it was not going to be popular here because of religion, well he posted it anyway didn't he…

> was immediately followed with "you probably have a brain tumor for doing it" comments

Actually most comments weren't of this nature, but you climbed over those to find the one you could plant your flag of martyrdom on.

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#79

Post by _a_a_a_ » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:24 PM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #69

mr_mitm wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think satisfaction is a good measure of what we should believe to be true?

As an atheist, what other measure should we use? Like when it comes down to it we are all looking for answers that "satisfy" us. What else is there? Logic is just a complex way of verifying that the answers are convincing enough and thus satisfying.

> what other measure should we use?

The truth, meaning accepting our best accordance of theory to observable reality, then acting on that? That means not just in physics but in ethics as well and any other area.

Re: Roger Penrose claims our Universe has been through multiple Big Bangs

#80

Post by q845712 » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 5:26 PM UTC

GalenErso wrote: post #5

I know HN hates religion, but after being an atheist all my life, and graduating with a STEM degree (the 'S' part) from a top tier institution, I've started in the last year or so to turn to the church (Roman Catholic) and theism, both to find answers to some of life's mysteries, such as the origin of the Universe, and for personal reasons (I plan to start my initiation, starting with a baptism, within the next year…

hey - thanks for this; it takes some bravery to say this stuff in public.

I'll share that I've been slowly turning into a buddhist, which is not the religion I was born into. I think there's a few things in common, including a sort of universal love and a perspective that could be phrased "it's not about me", but that there's something bigger/higher/more-powerful going on and my specific life experience isn't the most important thing in the universe. Those two things - love, and humility (maybe that's the best single word?) go a long way towards reducing inter-personal frictions large and small.