The Great Unanswered Questions Still Facing Humanity:

[paddoboy]

There is no "below" Planck level.

The Planck regime is a man made construct calculated on some fundamental constructs, such as "c" and "G" and we have no evidence that it is the smallest possible unit of anything. It has nothing to do with any fundamental about space.
http://www.sciforums.com/threads/th...ns-still-facing-humanity.163616/#post-3650420

 

[paddoboy]

Quantum foam?

DE appears to be a property of space that acts in accelerating the expansion of space.
DM is matter that does not interact via any method except gravity...That is why it is invisible.
Obviously like any baryonic matter, it was created at some time in the past, post BB, as the universe underwent cooling and expansion.

 

[paddoboy]

I refer to Robert Hazen "CHANCE, NECESSITY, and the ORIGINS OF LIFE"

start viewing @ 12:00 (to avoid lengthy introduction)

Will watch some other time...too long! What is the relevant point you are trying to make anyway?

A "permittive condition" ?

[3] Is the Universe Finite or Infinite? We still have no convincing evidence one way or the other about whether the universe is finite or infinite. All we can deduce is that it is very very big, and near infinite in extent and content. "Near infinite" is my own description of it.
[4] What is "Nothing" from whence the BB evolved? We can only speculate, but according to Lawrence Krauss and his book, "A Universe from Nothing" the quantum foam could be as nothing as is possible to get, or quantum foam is effectively nothing.

 

[Write4U]

The Planck regime is a man made construct calculated on some fundamental constructs, such as "c" and "G" and we have no evidence that it is the smallest possible unit of anything. It has nothing to do with any fundamental about space.

The Planck scale: relativity meets quantum mechanics meets gravity.

Well, there is an abolute length and an absolute time. It's possible that we'll never be able to measure them, so any threat posed to relativity is distant and perhaps even hypothetical. It is interesting to see whether and how these quantities might be included in relativity.

https://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/jw/module6_Planck.htm

I understand this to mean that Planck Length and Planck Time are Universal constants, i.e. the smallest effective relative values which lie at the foundation of Reality.

Planck Units

Originally proposed in 1899 by German physicist Max Planck, these units are a system of natural units because the origin of their definition comes only from properties of nature and not from any human construct. Planck units are only one of several systems of natural units, but Planck units are not based on properties of any prototype object or particle (the choice of which is inherently arbitrary), but rather on only the properties of free space. They are relevant in research on unified theories such as quantum gravity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_units

Will watch some other time...too long! What is the relevant point you are trying to make anyway?

Hazen lays out three probable mechanisms for Abiogenesis. (save time by starting @ 12:00) It seems to me that this great question of Abiogenesis cannot be answered in a few short sentences and must be examined from the purely chemical state of the universe, along the formation of biochemical compounds and the "natural selection' of "efficiency" which seem to prefer "utility and symmetry", regardless of the medium.

[3] Is the Universe Finite or Infinite? We still have no convincing evidence one way or the other about whether the universe is finite or infinite. All we can deduce is that it is very very big, and near infinite in extent and content. "Near infinite" is my own description of it.

That's why I prefer the term; "permittive condition" over "nothingness".
A permittive condition may be infinite in scope as it has no size limitation, yet be permittive of dynamical functions.
Despite Krauss' creative use of the word "nothing", the definition of "nothingness" really precludes the assignment of any property, such as infinitely small or large or dynamical in essence.

 

[paddoboy]

The Planck scale: relativity meets quantum mechanics meets gravity.
https://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/jw/module6_Planck.htm

I understand this to mean that Planck Length and Planck Time are Universal constants, i.e. the smallest effective relative values which lie at the foundation of Reality.

From your link.....
It's possible that we'll never be able to measure them, so any threat posed to relativity is distant and perhaps even hypothetical.

That's why I prefer the term; "permittive condition" over "nothingness".
A permittive condition may be infinite in scope as it has no size limitation, yet be permittive of dynamical functions.
Despite Krauss' creative use of the word "nothing", the definition of "nothingness" really precludes the assignment of any property, such as infinitely small or large or dynamical in essence.

Again, I don't see anything too creative about it, other then yes, speculative, but irrespective of your view of nothing, quantum foam is damn close and possibly as nothing as one could get, that had existed for eternity prior to the BB.

 

[Yazata]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing? Why is there such a thing as reality at all, rather than the total absence of... anything and everything? Why does existence exist in the first place? That's the ultimate question in my opinion.

2. What is mathematics? Why does it seem so... objective, rather than subjective? Why is a proof that's valid for one mathematician valid for all of them? What kind of reality do mathematical truths have? How is it that human beings can know about mathematics at all? What's the source of that knowledge?

3. What are the laws of physics? Why are they what they seem to be and not something else? Are they descriptive or prescriptive? Why must physical events seemingly always conform to them? What kind of power do they seemingly wield over what can and can't happen?

4. What is the connection between evidence and conclusions? It isn't exactly deduction, no matter how many times Holmes said it was. So what is it?

5. What are linguistic meaning and reference? How can some sounds or some ink squiggles on paper mean something? How can some squiggles refer to something else entirely? What's the connection between them?

And many more...

 

[paddoboy]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing? Why is there such a thing as reality at all, rather than the total absence of... anything and everything? Why does existence exist in the first place? That's the ultimate question in my opinion.

2. What is mathematics? Why does it seem so... objective, rather than subjective? Why is a proof that's valid for one mathematician valid for all of them? What kind of reality do mathematical truths have? How is it that human beings can know about mathematics at all? What's the source of that knowledge?

3. What are the laws of physics? Why are they what they seem to be and not something else? Are they descriptive or prescriptive? Why must physical events seemingly always conform to them? What kind of power do they seemingly wield over what can and can't happen?

4. What is the connection between evidence and conclusions? It isn't exactly deduction, no matter how many times Holmes said it was. So what is it?

5. What are linguistic meaning and reference? How can some sounds or some ink squiggles on paper mean something? How can some squiggles refer to something else entirely? What's the connection between them?

And many more...

Some we may never know and will always simply pontificate phylosophically on......others are answered to at least within the bounds of our models.
Mathematics? I'll stick to my favourite answer as being the language of physics.

 

[Write4U]

"that had existed for eternity prior to the BB".

Or perhaps existed for a single dynamic quantum instant prior to the BB?

This may be of interest;
Understanding the Evolution of Life in the Universe
HOW DID THE UNIVERSE START AND EVOLVE?

WMAP determined that the first stars in the universe arose only about 400 million years after the Big Bang. But what made the stars?

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT.

Quantum Fluctuations are the random nature of matter's state of existence or nonexistence. At these incredibly small sub-atomic scales, the state of reality is fleeting, changing from nanosecond to nanosecond.

The motor for making stars (and galaxies) came early and was very subtle. Before the completion of the first fraction of a second of the universe, sub-atomic scale activity, tiny "quantum fluctuations", drove the universe towards stars and life. With the sudden expansion of a pinhead size portion of the universe in a fraction of a second, random quantum fluctuations inflated rapidly from the tiny quantum world to a macroscopic landscape of astronomical proportions.

Why do we believe this? Because the microwave afterglow light from the Big Bang has an extraordinarily uniform temperature across the sky. There has not been time for the different parts of the universe to come into an equilibrium with each other *unless* the regions had exponentially inflated from a tiny patch. The only way the isotropy (uniformity) could have arisen is if the different regions were in thermal equilibrium with each other early in the history of the universe, and then rapidly inflated apart. WMAP has verified that other predictions from the inflation theory also appear to be true..

As the universe inflated, the tiny quantum fluctuations grew to become tiny variations in the amount of matter from one place to another. A tiny amount is all it takes for gravity to do its thing. Gravity is one of the basic forces of nature and controls the evolution of the large scale structure of the universe.

Without gravity there would be no stars or planets, only a cold thin mist of particles. Without the variations in the particle soup initiated by the quantum fluctuations, gravity could not begin to concentrate tiny amounts of matter into even larger amounts of matter. The end result of the pull of gravity: galaxies, stars and planets. The fluctuations, mapped in detail by the WMAP mission, are the factories and cradles of life......more

https://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_life.html#

 

[Write4U]

Mathematics? I'll stick to my favourite answer as being the language of physics

I have no quarrel with that. I just change the paradigm to read; The language of the physical relational values and functions of the universe, regardless of human observation or understanding.....

 

[Beaconator]

Well it finally looks like you all are beginning to agree not only on terms, but also on theory, logic, as well as what Is arbitrary, inferred, unprovable, and unproductive. Great leaps in my opinion.

I think I will enjoy the peace and not start any argument that could potentially lead the way in solving some of these unknowns.