To a theoretical physicist, there is no greater joy than to see that this curious activity we call calculation - the depositing of ink on paper, followed by throwing away the paper and depositing new ink on more paper - can actually tell us something about reality.

Alan Guth

Categorized in : See New Reality Joy

The Big Bang theory says nothing about what banged, why it banged, or what happened before it banged.

bangs bigs theory

The question of the origin of the matter in the universe is no longer thought to be beyond the range of science - everything can be created from nothing. It is fair to say that the universe is the ultimate free lunch.

range lunch matter

Space is certainly something more complicated than the average person would probably realize. Space is not just an empty background in which things happen.

realizing space average

Despite its name, the big bang theory is not really a theory of a bang at all. It is really only a theory of the aftermath of a bang.

aftermath bangs names

It’s hard to build models of inflation that don't lead to a multiverse. It’s not impossible, so I think there’s still certainly research that needs to be done. But most models of inflation do lead to a multiverse, and evidence for inflation will be pushing us in the direction of taking [the idea of a] multiverse seriously.

pushing ideas thinking

It's actually safe to create a universe in your basement. by Alan Guth

It's actually safe to create a universe in your basement.

basements universe safe

In the context of general relativity, space almost is a substance. It can bend and twist and stretch, and probably the best way to think about space is to just kind of imagine a big piece of rubber that you can pull and twist and bend.

twists space thinking

The recent developments in cosmology strongly suggest that the universe may be the ultimate free lunch.

lunch development may

It is rather fantastic to realize that the laws of physics can describe how everything was created in a random quantum fluctuation out of nothing, and how over the course of 15 billion years, matter could organize in such complex ways that we have human beings sitting here, talking, doing things intentionally.

random nothing sitting matter

If we assume there is no maximum possible entropy for the universe, then any state can be a state of low entropy.

low possible entropy universe

Relativity can, for instance, explain that the universe had once been clumped into a dense fireball. But it can never explain how matter actually behaved.

explain never universe matter

Now, what space ultimately is - I should confess, I think most physicists believe - we don't yet know.

think know space believe

Our best theory of describing space at a fundamental level is pro... by Alan Guth

Our best theory of describing space at a fundamental level is probably string theory.

level best space theory

When one studies the properties of atoms, one found that the reality is far stranger than anybody would have invented in the form of fiction. Particles really do have the possibility of, in some sense, being in more than one place at one time.

place being time reality

My parents were not at all involved in science. In fact, neither... by Alan Guth

My parents were not at all involved in science. In fact, neither of them went to college.

fact parents college science

I had considered MIT a place where brilliant people came. by Alan Guth

I had considered MIT a place where brilliant people came.

place where brilliant people

In high school, I was the best broad jumper on our team, and I kind of thought that when I got to MIT, I'd probably still be the best broad jumper, 'cause why do broad jumpers come to MIT? But it turned out to actually be the other way around. There was another person in my class who could jump about 3 feet further than I could.

best team way school

If you consider the universe one second after the Big Bang, the expansion rate would have to have been just right to an accuracy of 15 decimal places, or else the universe would really not work.

big you universe work

It's not a coincidence that the Bible starts with Genesis. Most people really want to know where we came from and where everything around us came from. I like to strongly push the scientific answer. We have evidence. We no longer have to rely on stories we were told when we were young.

push know bible people

If you bang two electrons together with enough energy, you produce protons. If there are no independent laws, then all the properties of protons must somehow be 'known' by the electrons. By extension, every elementary particle must carry around enough information to produce the entire universe. I find that difficult to believe.

you universe together believe