What do you believe?

Just to make this clear, I don't mean for this to be a thread about religion, or rather a thread solely about religion.

I want to know what you believe about certain unknowns in our world. Do you believe the big bang theory? Do you believe we're all doomed eventually when the universe recollapses? Do you believe there is a supreme being who watches over or influences us? Do you believe there was a supreme being who started everything but has since taken a hike?

I'm not targeting any once specific topic. Anything that you think might be considered controversial or unconfirmable.

I don't want this to end up a debate about who is right or who is wrong, though I do hope that it will lead to that elsewhere. I encourage you to start debates with people, but do try to keep it out of this thread.




I'm somewhat undecided about whether or not there is a supreme being or any sort, myself. I've considered such things as there being not a supreme being but rather a supreme power of some sort that is not necessarily a sapient "being." There are things such as dark matter, gravity, etc, that we can somewhat theorize about but we can't seem to completely explain. Perhaps these are examples of or part of this "supreme power."

I do believe in the big bang theory. All of the evidence points to such an event and it's becoming pretty widely accepted these days. The only problem with such an event is that it almost makes a supreme being or power of some sort a necessity in explaining why it happened, whereas an infinite universe with no beginning and no end has no specific event that must have been caused by something.

However, there is the question in my mind of whether or not the universe will ever contract. There seem to be two possible outcomes in my mind, either the universe will continue to expand, never reaching but approaching zero expansion, or it will eventually reach the end of it's expansion and start contracting, similarly to how a ball thrown up into the air eventually stops and then returns. The evidence currently points to the former, since the average density of the universe doesn't seem to be dense enough to where gravity will eventually get a grip on it and bring it back. However, there are some things we can't really accurately account for, such as dark matter, so it's hard to say either way.

I'm going to leave it at that for now, but give a few topics that people can build on(and perhaps I'll address later.)

Evolution
Black Holes
The speed of light and how it affects our universe
Time Travel
Unified Theory
Dark Matter
Crazy Shit

ETC.

I believe there is something that has influence over us, but doesn't act upon it, or hasn't yet to my knowledge. I've read about God being on different planes of existance, and our time is unaffected by him, apparently.

Ya, rather than make up some fanciful theory about how god might possibly exist, I'd rather just say some dipshit talked about it to make a few free bucks from some poor suckers. As for believing the big bang. I do believe it because there is evidence that everything in the universe is moving away from each other...which means it's all moving away from the center of the explosion.

C'mon guys, you can give us more than that. I want more than a couple of sentences.

Well I don't feel like writing any essays right now...

I believe in the philosophy of rational, objective inquiry. Plain and simple. I know you want something longer KA, but I just don't have the time today. Perhaps I will expand over the weekend. Or maybe sooner if possible.

That's fine, I'm sure I won't be disappointed so it's worth the wait.

I just want to add, feel free to address any of the other topics I mentioned, or anything else. I don't want this thread to be all about the big bang and God.

First and foremost, I do not, in any sense, think that there was an intelligent sentient entity or entities that created the universe. As a matter of fact, I emphatically deny the existence of such a being. There is no ultimate purpose for the universe. It simply exists. The same thing goes for all life on earth. True, we have some evolutionary imperatives, however in the grander scheme of things we exist without any purpose.

I accept Darwin's theory of evolution as fact. I do not accept it precisely as Darwin explicated it, as it has been modified and refined over the last century, but I absolutely think that descent with modification is fact. I accept all of the obvious implications that go along with the theory, such as a multi-billion year old earth, a common ancestor between any two organisms, and that there is no implicit hegemony in the animal kingdom.

On a somewhat related note, I think it is fairly probable that aliens exist. The fundamental constituents of life are known to be prevalent in the universe. An understanding of evolution also allows me to know that the phenomena of life is not based on random chance, in which case life would be extremely improbable, but on a meticulous system which manipulates the fundamental constituents of life. Unfortunately, the scope of our search is limited. We can not probe with much detail outside of our solar system. However, if we were able to investigate places more suitable to life with greater detail I would not be surprised to find life there.

The big bang becomes increasingly clear to me as I continue reading. I accept the theory. It appears that in all likeliness any new evidence we uncover will either support or slightly modify the big bang theory rather than replace it.

Black holes probably exist. Same with dark matter. That is all I have to say about them.

I don't think the speed of light itself influences our universe at all. It's simply the upper speed-limit of the universe. Our realization that it is the upper speed limit of the universe, and also that it is the same in all inertial reference frames affects our understanding of the universe profoundly, though.

There is nothing extraordinary about time travel. We do it all the time. We're doing it right now. We can even manipulate how fast we travel through time, but only to a slight extent. We constantly travel through space-time at C -- the only thing is in general most of that is being done in the time dimension. Velocity causes something somewhat analogous to a rotation of the space-time coordinate system, which allows us deflect some of that velocity we use traveling through time in order to travel through space.

I do not accept any currently proposed grand unified theories of physics. String theory seems to be a promising line for inquiry, though.

Above all I believe in the scientific method for ascertaining the secrets of our universe. Rational inquiry should always take precedent over anecdotes and personal revelation.

Now that's what I wanted.

I think I might make a thread about the speed of light and time travel later.

I will really find it to be a great let down if we're on the brink of "understanding the beginning of the universe" etc etc. We've pretty much just begun in our research. Can it really be that simple that such a perplexing thing can be figured out in a matter of centuries?

Here's another great einstein quote for you fella's. "A question that sometimes drives me hazy. Am I or are they crazy?"

Here's my theory on alien life I'll throw out there for you guys, I haven't been on here in a while but this thread was intriguing. I believe that there's most likely no life forms in our solar system that resemble anything like us, the other planets are obviously too inhabitable. This is what perplexes myself... There are so many other stars out there that are explained as similar to our sun that there must be a few planets, at least, that have some sort of living beings on them. It's a little arrogant to think that in the entriety of the universe we are the only ones... The other planets that could host life may be more advanced or drastically less advanced than us. As gruesomeBODY posted, it is most likely in direct correlation to their environment.

So there's my two cents.

The beauty of it Josh is that there are habitable zones for just about every star out there that is still burning. The star doesn't have to resemble Sol nor does the planet need to resemble the Earth in regards to size/distance requirements, these all change with the star being orbited.

Then you can't forget the satellites orbiting those planets, or the possibility of extremophiles on planets/satellites within our own solar system. Due to tidal warming on moons like Europa, there may be liquid water beneath the icy shell that makes up the planets outer surface. If there is, you could imaginably see extremophile forms of life similar to what you find near thermal vents at the ocean floor right here on earth.

When you add that kind of information to how many stars there are out there, the assumption that we're the only form of life in this universe seems ridiculous. Other intelligent life may certainly be out there, how and when we learn of it may certainly be centuries away just due to distances involved.