The most staggering thought about the Big Bang is that in some sense or another the entire universe is "inside" of something else.
Interpreting the Multiverse
Life emerges from chemistry. Chemistry emerges from the fundamental particles. And the particles emerge from the Big Bang. We have life. But it could have all been different. Life emerges in this galaxy. And galaxies emerge from the Big Bang. But again it could have all been different. This universe made life. But other universes probably didn't. We live in the universe, the lucky-verse, that got it right. And if it wasn't right we wouldn't be here to know about it. This is downward causation. There can be many variations of the Big Bang. But very few work for life.
Inside the Big Bang
Space and time seem to be emergent. So it's probably improper to think of something as "outside" or "before" the universe. And yet in our feelings and imaginings it's hard to shake the idea that somehow we are inside of a cosmic womb. The Multiverse is a pregnant mother. Or maybe a cosmic creator .
Miracles and downward causation
The black swan, the perfect storm, someone winning the lottery three times in a row. Given enough time and variation it seems that almost anything could happen. We live on miracle planet. But only because the universe is so varied and vast. Evolution proceeds because of variations in populations. Large numbers are the source of good (and bad) luck. Large numbers make the unlikely inevitable. This is the miracle of downward causation.
And what The Big Bang came from.
The Multiverse
Most of these universes are dead
Strange things can emerge from very large numbers
B4B4 & WHAT THE BIG BANG CAME FROM
Viewing the universe from the ‘outside’ can give you the feeling of being in a womb. But the Big Bang marks the beginning of time and space. So to ask what’s ‘outside’, or what came ‘before’ can have no meaning. Indeed, the whole notion of cause and effect depends on the flow of time. So in a sense, the universe can have no cause. And yet it must, in some sense, come from something. But what can this mean?
We begin to get a sense of this mystery by considering how black holes bend space and slow time, thus illustrating that our universe is made from mutable stuff. If space can bend, it can also expand. And if time can be slowed, and stand still, it can also have a beginning. At the center of a black hole, a whole star becomes one inscrutable point. This combining of large and small, reminiscent of the Big Bang, is a place where physical law is very different.
At the beginning of time, the whole universe was compresses into a space smaller than an atomic nucleus. It’s the ultimate union of large and small, and creates a place where the workings of quantum mechanics take hold. We call this ‘Quantum Cosmology’.
We can see how quantum mechanics affected the Big Bang when we look at the vastly expanded effects of quantum mechanical probability waves on the distribution of galaxies. These small waves were there in the beginning. And now they leave their imprint on the biggest things we know.
In quantum mechanics, ‘things just happen’. According to the principles of uncertainty, microscopic particles can change location, be in two places, and even come into existence for no reason at all. God plays dice. And so we see how our birth in the context of quantum mechanics begins to show the qualities of a random event.
Surprisingly, the quantum randomness of the Big Bang can also be seen in the physics of the universe. Physicists have always wondered about the values for certain universal constants. Why is the speed of light what it is? Why is an electron as big as it is? And why are the masses and coupling constants of particles, in general, so uniquely suited for the emergence of life. In ignorance, we could turn to divine providence, but it seems the truth is even stranger.
Apparently we are one of a large, possibly infinite, number of universes. Each with its own unique, quantum produced, laws of physics. From this, we see that the ‘V’ in THE OCTAGOD shows us as only one slice in the pie. But it’s a slice made tasty because there’s somebody in here to enjoy it.
In Conclusion
HOW TO BE YOUR OWN THEOLOGICAL ENGINEER
So now with THE OCTAGOD you can be a science warrior, armed with a rainbow of truths. THE OCTAGOD gives atheists something to be inspired about, believers something to think about, and agnostics, something to be sure of. THE OCTAGOD was created on 8/8/88 in N.Y.C. and began as a conflict between science and religion.
Certainly, science and religion do have their troubles. Dogma fears question, just as questions fear dogma. But certainty and uncertainty both have their virtues. Our love of novelty pushes our focus to cutting edge science. So we tend to get the impression that everything in science is provisional. But this is only partly true.
And indeed we may not know everything. But I say we do know enough to create a symbol like this. THE OCTAGOD is a God of little faith, it assumes the minimum. So ask yourself; is there culture? Do we have brains? Does DNA exist? Are there atoms? Are there stars? Is the universe expanding? And did evolution happen? So if you believe in everything on that list, then you believe in THE OCTAGOD ! And now you have a handle on the universe.
THE OCTAGOD is not meant to be a scientific theory. Rather, its science education put in the form of a personal religious symbol. And the categories have been carefully chosen so that even as we learn more, the symbol will still continue to work.
So the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. And the more ways you interpret it, the better. It can be a face, a body, and an eye. Through THE OCTAGOD you’re looking at the universe and the universe are looking back at you. It’s a rational placebo, a scientific Jesus for the dashboard of your soul. It has no holy books. It’s just a science angel that presents certain certainties and then asks you to solve the rest of this endless puzzle on your own.
You can play with the numbers and shapes in your own mind. You can even use it as the bases for astrology. And if you let it, it will produce a variety of overwhelming feelings and insights. It scratches a hard-to-reach itch in the modern soul. It’s eight chakras of the universe, an X-ray of the ultimate, and a smile button for the universe, that says, ‘Have a Big Bang.’