From Jon Cartwright at New Scientist,
Although everyone has heard of the big bang, no one can say confidently what it was like. After all, recounting the beginning of time is about finding not just the right words, but the right physics – and ever since the big bang entered the popular lexicon, that physics has been murky.
Perhaps no longer, thanks to an unusual way of delving into our universe’s backstory that has emerged over the past few years. In this view, the essence of space and time can exist beyond the confines of the cosmos, but in a state of roiling chaos we would not recognise. The big bang is not a hard-and-fast beginning, but a moment of profound transformation – one quite different from anything most of us could have imagined. (paywall) More.
For nearly a century, people have been trying to fire the Big Bang. Or talk around it, like the above. Because it means that things can either be evidence-based – or not. PoMos like to flirt with science that way. Pay if you want to flirt with them.
See also: The Big Bang: Put simply,the facts are wrong.
Some other philosophical conundrums:
Does the size of the universe sweep us toward atheism?
Philosopher: If there is something rather than nothing, questions around God cannot be ignored Waghorn: “Firstly, that on the most plausible demarcation criterion for science, science is constitutionally unable to show theism to be a redundant hypothesis; the debate must take place at the level of metaphysics. ”
Is zero even?
Absolute zero proven mathematically impossible?
Is celeb number pi a “normal” number? Not normal. And things get worse. Surely this oddity is related in some way to the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics.
Durston and Craig on an infinite temporal past . . .
Physicist David Snoke thinks that Christians should not use the kalaam argument for God’s existence
and
Must we understand “nothing” to understand physics?
Why is space three dimensions anyway? Why not six? A new theory is offered. They want to test their theory? What a great idea! In an age of wars on falsifiability, that’s a refreshingly new/old idea. Anyway, our universe seems pretty smart and can keep us awake.