Paradox of the beginning

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bahman
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Paradox of the beginning

Post by bahman »

I have been struggling with this problem for a while. It is difficult for me to even explain it to you. Lets assume that universe has a beginning whether it is created or it is result of big bang. There is however no before before beginning which means we cannot possibly define any reference point to measure the beginning from. This means that the age of universe can be anything which is paradoxical.
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TSBU
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by TSBU »

Hahhahaahha, love it. You have bringed me good memories :wink:
Ey, but, don't you have the feeling that it's better to reach a solution yourself, even if it's not perfect? Don't you have the feeling that other people thoughts may be a distraction for yours?
Ginkgo
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by Ginkgo »

bahman wrote:I have been struggling with this problem for a while. It is difficult for me to even explain it to you. Lets assume that universe has a beginning whether it is created or it is result of big bang. There is however no before before beginning which means we cannot possibly define any reference point to measure the beginning from. This means that the age of universe can be anything which is paradoxical.
Age of the Universe

In physical cosmology, the age of the universe is the time elapsed since the Big Bang. The current measurement of the age of the universe is 13.799±0.021 billion years ((13.799±0.021)×109 years) within the Lambda-CDM concordance model.[1][2] The uncertainty of 21 million years has been obtained by the agreement of a number of scientific research projects, such as microwave background radiation measurements by the Planck satellite, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and other probes. Measurements of the cosmic background radiation give the cooling time of the universe since the Big Bang,[3] and measurements of the expansion rate of the universe can be used to calculate its approximate age by extrapolating backwards in time.

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bahman
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by bahman »

Ginkgo wrote:
bahman wrote: I have been struggling with this problem for a while. It is difficult for me to even explain it to you. Lets assume that universe has a beginning whether it is created or it is result of big bang. There is however no before before beginning which means we cannot possibly define any reference point to measure the beginning from. This means that the age of universe can be anything which is paradoxical.
Age of the Universe

In physical cosmology, the age of the universe is the time elapsed since the Big Bang. The current measurement of the age of the universe is 13.799±0.021 billion years ((13.799±0.021)×109 years) within the Lambda-CDM concordance model.[1][2] The uncertainty of 21 million years has been obtained by the agreement of a number of scientific research projects, such as microwave background radiation measurements by the Planck satellite, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and other probes. Measurements of the cosmic background radiation give the cooling time of the universe since the Big Bang,[3] and measurements of the expansion rate of the universe can be used to calculate its approximate age by extrapolating backwards in time.

Wikipedia
I am quite aware of that and that is why the situation is paradoxical. If you take your reference point as now then you could reach the beginning by going back in time by amount of age of universe. However, there could be no now without beginning so you should in principle be able to reach from beginning to now by going forward in time by amount of age of universe. There is however a problem here as it is illustrated in OP which states that there is no reference point before creation or big bang point to define the beginning from so the age of universe can be anything. So we are dealing with a paradox.
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A_Seagull
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by A_Seagull »

bahman wrote:
Ginkgo wrote:
bahman wrote: I have been struggling with this problem for a while. It is difficult for me to even explain it to you. Lets assume that universe has a beginning whether it is created or it is result of big bang. There is however no before before beginning which means we cannot possibly define any reference point to measure the beginning from. This means that the age of universe can be anything which is paradoxical.
Age of the Universe

In physical cosmology, the age of the universe is the time elapsed since the Big Bang. The current measurement of the age of the universe is 13.799±0.021 billion years ((13.799±0.021)×109 years) within the Lambda-CDM concordance model.[1][2] The uncertainty of 21 million years has been obtained by the agreement of a number of scientific research projects, such as microwave background radiation measurements by the Planck satellite, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and other probes. Measurements of the cosmic background radiation give the cooling time of the universe since the Big Bang,[3] and measurements of the expansion rate of the universe can be used to calculate its approximate age by extrapolating backwards in time.

Wikipedia
I am quite aware of that and that is why the situation is paradoxical. If you take your reference point as now then you could reach the beginning by going back in time by amount of age of universe. However, there could be no now without beginning so you should in principle be able to reach from beginning to now by going forward in time by amount of age of universe. There is however a problem here as it is illustrated in OP which states that there is no reference point before creation or big bang point to define the beginning from so the age of universe can be anything. So we are dealing with a paradox.

Time is but a co-ordinate. It only came into existence with the big-bang.
Ginkgo
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by Ginkgo »

A_Seagull wrote:
bahman wrote:
Ginkgo wrote:

Age of the Universe

In physical cosmology, the age of the universe is the time elapsed since the Big Bang. The current measurement of the age of the universe is 13.799±0.021 billion years ((13.799±0.021)×109 years) within the Lambda-CDM concordance model.[1][2] The uncertainty of 21 million years has been obtained by the agreement of a number of scientific research projects, such as microwave background radiation measurements by the Planck satellite, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and other probes. Measurements of the cosmic background radiation give the cooling time of the universe since the Big Bang,[3] and measurements of the expansion rate of the universe can be used to calculate its approximate age by extrapolating backwards in time.

Wikipedia
I am quite aware of that and that is why the situation is paradoxical. If you take your reference point as now then you could reach the beginning by going back in time by amount of age of universe. However, there could be no now without beginning so you should in principle be able to reach from beginning to now by going forward in time by amount of age of universe. There is however a problem here as it is illustrated in OP which states that there is no reference point before creation or big bang point to define the beginning from so the age of universe can be anything. So we are dealing with a paradox.

Time is but a co-ordinate. It only came into existence with the big-bang.
That is correct. Time and place only came into existence with the Big Bang.
Impenitent
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by Impenitent »

time and place came in existence with individual consciousness...

homo mensura...

-Imp
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A_Seagull
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by A_Seagull »

Impenitent wrote:time and place came in existence with individual consciousness...

homo mensura...

-Imp
But an intelligent individual consciousness will infer that time (and space) existed before the flowering of their consciousness.
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Hobbes' Choice
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by Hobbes' Choice »

bahman wrote:I have been struggling with this problem for a while. It is difficult for me to even explain it to you. Lets assume that universe has a beginning whether it is created or it is result of big bang. There is however no before before beginning which means we cannot possibly define any reference point to measure the beginning from. This means that the age of universe can be anything which is paradoxical.
Why do you think it is paradoxical?
Impenitent
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by Impenitent »

A_Seagull wrote:
Impenitent wrote:time and place came in existence with individual consciousness...

homo mensura...

-Imp
But an intelligent individual consciousness will infer that time (and space) existed before the flowering of their consciousness.
leaps of faith are still leaps of faith

-Imp
thedoc
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by thedoc »

bahman wrote: This means that the age of universe can be anything which is paradoxical.
There is no paradox, the Universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old. Before the Big Bang there was no Universe, there was no time, space or matter. So if the Universe did not exist before the Big Bang, it can only be the age since the Big Bang, the age of the Universe is fixed and can't be just anything.
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bahman
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by bahman »

A_Seagull wrote: Time is but a co-ordinate. It only came into existence with the big-bang.
That I know. The problem is that there is no before before big-bang hence there is no reference point that allows us do define beginning which means that the age of universe can be anything.
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bahman
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by bahman »

Hobbes' Choice wrote:
bahman wrote: I have been struggling with this problem for a while. It is difficult for me to even explain it to you. Lets assume that universe has a beginning whether it is created or it is result of big bang. There is however no before before beginning which means we cannot possibly define any reference point to measure the beginning from. This means that the age of universe can be anything which is paradoxical.
Why do you think it is paradoxical?
It is paradoxical because if you consider now as a reference point then you can have an idea about beginning by going back in time by the age of universe. The problem is that there cannot be any now without beginning but that age of universe can be anything if you use beginning as a reference point.
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Hobbes' Choice
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by Hobbes' Choice »

Impenitent wrote:
A_Seagull wrote:
Impenitent wrote:time and place came in existence with individual consciousness...

homo mensura...

-Imp
But an intelligent individual consciousness will infer that time (and space) existed before the flowering of their consciousness.
leaps of faith are still leaps of faith

-Imp
This is not a leap of faith.
It is evident.
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Hobbes' Choice
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Re: Paradox of the beginning

Post by Hobbes' Choice »

bahman wrote:
Hobbes' Choice wrote:
bahman wrote: I have been struggling with this problem for a while. It is difficult for me to even explain it to you. Lets assume that universe has a beginning whether it is created or it is result of big bang. There is however no before before beginning which means we cannot possibly define any reference point to measure the beginning from. This means that the age of universe can be anything which is paradoxical.
Why do you think it is paradoxical?
It is paradoxical because if you consider now as a reference point then you can have an idea about beginning by going back in time by the age of universe. The problem is that there cannot be any now without beginning but that age of universe can be anything if you use beginning as a reference point.
This is not a paradox at all.
You make two assertions here which are both based on assumptions that are question begging.
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