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Cosmology deals with the physical situation that is the context in the large for human existence (Christopher Smeenk, George Ellis)

On the one hand, the argument arises from human curiosity as to why there is something rather than nothing or than something else. It invokes a concern for some full, complete, ultimate, or best explanation of what exists contingently. On the other hand, it raises intrinsically important philosophical questions about contingency and necessity, causation and explanation, part/whole relationships (mereology), possible worlds, infinity, sets, the nature of time, and the nature and origin of the universe (Bruce Reichenbach)

Unsplash / Nick Fewings

How AI Assesses the End of the Universe: A Computational Framework for Cosmological Prognosis

When tasked with predicting or modelling the end of the universe, can leverage its decision-making algorithms and data analysis capabilities to assess various cosmological scenarios. Using an advanced computational framework, we explore AI's capacity to integrate cosmological data, physical laws, and uncertainty modelling in predicting the most probable end-state of the universe. We introduce a set of mathematical models that AI might use to analyse these scenarios, incorporating key factors such as dark energy, entropy, and cosmological expansion. The paper delves into how AI's predictive algorithms can be used to identify critical thresholds in the evolution of the universe and whether these models can offer meaningful insights into cosmological fate

ResearchGate

Unsplash / Denys Argyriou

The Shell Model of the Universe: A Universe Generated from Multiple Big Bangs

The Current Standard Model of the Universe asserts that the universe is generated from a single Big Bang event followed by inflation. There is no center to this universe, hence, no preferential reference frame to describe the motions of celestial objects. We propose a new, Shell Model of the Universe, which contends that the universe is created from multiple, concentric big bangs. Accordingly, that origin presents itself as a unique, preferential reference frame, which furnishes the simplest description of the motions of galaxies in the cosmos. This is similar in manner to how planetary motion is more straightforwardly described via a sun-centered Solar System rather than an earth-centered one. The appeal of the Shell Model of the Universe lies in its simplistic ability to resolve the paradox of quasars, explain the variability in Hubble’s Constant, and solve the problematic accelerated expansion of the universe

SCIRP

Unsplash / Paula Guerreiro

There are 5 eras in the universe’s lifecycle. Right now, we’re in the second era

There are many ways to consider and discuss the past, present, and future of the universe, but one in particular has caught the fancy of many astronomers. First published in 1999 in their book The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity, Fred Adams and Gregory Laughlin divided the universe’s life story into five eras: Primordial Era, Stellferous Era, Degenerate Era, Black Hole Era and Dark era

Big Think

Unsplash / Sincerely Media

The science illuminated by the first light in the universe

About 13.8 billion years ago, our universe ballooned outward at an incredible speed. Everything we observe today, which had been packed tightly together, expanded in a roiling mass of light and particles. It took 380,000 years for this hot, dense soup to thin and cool enough to allow light to travel through it. This first light, dating back to the formation of early atoms, is called the cosmic microwave background and can still be detected today

Stanford Report

Unsplash / Hana Lopez

Time Likely To End Within Earth’s Lifespan, Say Physicists

They say an infinitely expanding universe cannot be so because the laws of physics do not work in an infinite cosmos. For these laws to make any sense, the universe must end, say Raphael Bousso at the University of California, Berkeley and few pals. And they have calculated when that is most likely to happen

MIT Technology Review

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

The thermal limits to life on Earth

If we wish to assess the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe, we need first to understand the physical factors that constrain the existence of life in the only example available for study, namely here on Earth. Limits to life could theoretically be set by one of any number of environmental factors, or combination of these, such as pressure, pH, ionizing radiation, or the presence of particular elements or compounds. In this paper, I examine the limits to life on Earth set by one such factor: temperature

Cambridge University Press

Unsplash / Tom Roberts

Quantum fluctuations in open pre-big bang

We solve exactly the (linear order) equations for tensor and scalar perturbations over the homogeneous, isotropic, open pre-big bang model recently discussed by several authors. We find that the parametric amplification of vacuum fluctuations (i.e. particle production) remains negligible throughout the perturbative pre-big bang phase

ScienceDirect

Unsplash / Jared Poledna

The Evolution of Intelligent Design Arguments

Two versions of the argument from design are distinguished: first, the argument that organisms exhibit design (biological design); and second, the argument that the universe as a whole does (cosmological design). The history of the argument is traced from its roots in pre-Christian times with Aristotle, through its medieval expression by Aquinas to its heyday in the early modern period with the rise of modern science. Paley’s presentation of the argument is discussed in the light of the scientific knowledge of the time. The criticisms of Kant, who argued that the argument establishes at best the existence of a demiurge working with preexisting materials, and Hume, who argued that other equally plausible explanations of apparent design in nature are available, are noted

Oxford Academic

Unsplash / Colton Sturgeon

Cosmological Argument

The cosmological argument is less a particular argument than an argument type. It uses a general pattern of argumentation (logos) that makes an inference from particular alleged facts about the universe (cosmos) to the existence of a unique being, generally identified with or referred to as God. From these facts philosophers and theologians argue deductively, inductively, or abductively by inference to the best explanation that a first cause, sustaining cause, unmoved mover, necessary being, or personal being (God) exists that caused and/or sustains the universe

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Unsplash / Dima Pechurin

A black hole is a one-way exit from our universe

Does the inside of a black hole lead to another universe, as some scientists have claimed? The truth is, no one really knows. We cannot do a direct experiment to find out, even in principle, since no information or evidence can ever get back out of a black hole. That's what makes it so important to find and study black holes from the outside, while at the same time developing theories that can more confidently predict what might happen on the inside of the black hole

NASA

Unsplash / Stas Ostrikov

Alien Life May Not Even Look Like Life

At an incredibly basic level, we look for life elsewhere in the universe by looking for ourselves. “Ourselves” here is not exclusive to humans. Rather, it refers to all forms of Earthlings. When we look to the stars—and to the numerous planets orbiting those stars—trying to spot signs of life, we’re looking not for any life at all, but for life as we know it

Popular Mechanics

The aliens are silent because they are all extinct

Life on other planets would likely be brief and become extinct very quickly, say astrobiologists from ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.In research aiming to understand how life might develop, the scientists realised new life would commonly die out due to runaway heating or cooling on their fledgling planets. "The universe is probably filled with habitable planets, so many scientists think it should be teeming with aliens," said Dr Aditya Chopra, lead author on the paper, which is published in Astrobiology. "Early life is fragile, so we believe it rarely evolves quickly enough to survive." "Most early planetary environments are unstable. To produce a habitable planet, life forms need to regulate greenhouse gases such as water and carbon dioxide to keep surface temperatures stable."

The Australian National University

Unsplash / Iker Urteaga

Does quantum theory imply the entire Universe is preordained?

Was there ever any choice in the Universe being as it is? Albert Einstein could have been wondering about this when he remarked to mathematician Ernst Strauss: “What I’m really interested in is whether God could have made the world in a different way; that is, whether the necessity of logical simplicity leaves any freedom at all.”

Nature

Unsplash / mikhail Marchenko

If Our Universe Is Just a Random Occurrence, Science Has a Big Problem

According to theoretical physicist Alan Lightman, scientists — and in particular, physicists — have long assumed that they’d someday be able to work out the basic principles and laws that logically and inevitably lead to our universe. Current theories, however, raise another, very unnerving possibility

Big Think

Unsplash / Riki Ramdani

The Passage of Time is Not an Illusion: It's a Projection

This essay aims to review and clarify an emerging consensus among philosophers of time: that belief in the passage of time is not a matter of illusion but rather the result of a variety of cognitive error. I argue that this error is best described in terms of psychological projection, properly understood. A close analysis of varieties of projection reveals how well this phenomenon accounts for belief in dynamic temporal passage and the objective becoming of events. A projectivist account of belief in the passage of time is, in actuality, already predominant in contemporary philosophy of time; but the language of illusion still used by many theorists is hampering recognition of the nature of the solution as well as the recent progress towards consensus

Cambridge University Press

What’s next?

– Parallel Universes
– Was the Big Bang Really a Big Bounce?
– The Beginning of Time
– Why the origin of life and the Universe itself might be forever unknowable
– What Happened Before the Big Bang?
– Consciousness in the universe: A review of the ‘Orch OR’ theory
– Scientists closer to solving mysteries of universe after measuring gravity in quantum world
– The Many-Worlds Theory, Explained
– Death, Physics and Wishful Thinking
– The Origin of the Universe: Big Bang to God Theory
– Are we living in a computer simulation? This physicist says his study supports the theory
– Everything in Our Universe-Even the Chair You’re Sitting On-May Be Conscious, Scientists Say
– The Self-Creating Universe: the Emergence of a New Worldview
– The Big Bang
– What is an atom? Facts about the building blocks of the universe

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