Origion question

[JerryL]

Umm.. no. "Since that time" is the time that has passed between the beginning of time and now.

Hrm. I've gotten confused somewhere.

You said:
"It simply means there are no instances of matter or energy that existed in a point of time before that time"

Doing a word insert I get:
"It simply means there are no instances of matter or energy that existed in a point of time before time that has passed between the beginning of time and now"

The time before the time that passed between the beginning of time and now would be the actual beginning of time? I think I'm confused as to what you are saying.

I am having trouble understanding the significance of your distinctions. Is there a philosophical significance, or are you arguing for the sake of arguing?

That's a good analogy. So in this view of time, does time have a beginning, or are you inferring Hawking's hypothetical of the big bang that does not have a single point of origin (but rather extends out with a semi-spherical geometry)?

Hopefully the analogy helped underscore the difference. If you are still unsure of the distinction, reask and I'll do my best to explain what I percieve.

I (more signifigantly, Hawkings) am not asserting that time is a sphere; merely that, like a sphere, it's finite but boundless. The beginning of the universe is the same as the beginning of time; the proverbial "north pole", and timespace expands as you move "south".

I don't know anything about the nature of a universe prior to the beginning of time; and that beginning occurs with the big bang. Theoretic physics starts trying to work with concepts like imaginary time to resolve exactly some of these issues; but they are, at present, unresolved (to my knowledge).

 

[JerryL]

There isn't one bit of hard evidence that proves the big bang theory.

I've just addressed a lot of this in the PM response to your PM. The Big bang is well established and proven. It's repeatedly made falsifiable predictions which have tested true.

You've shown little to no knowledge of the actual theory or its proofs.

Try http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/The%20Big%20Bang%20Theory.htm or the wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_bang), both of which discuss the history, how it came to be, and the basic proof of the theory.