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[patrickm]

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking
dsc.discovery.com/tv/stephen-hawking/

I was just poking around trying to find where you braniacs were discussing this show, and...I don't see it ANYWHERE. I don't have much to offer other than WOW!, but I'm sure you guys have thoughts on it and must be watching.



He is...so cool.

[RobbW]

Patrick, I recorded "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking: The story of Everything" and watched it a couple nights ago. All I can say is, "WOW!!!' That was a very compelling and visually intriguing show! I will most likely enjoy watching it over and over again. The only thing that irked me about the show (and any other show about the beginning of the universe) is the concept of the Big Bang and everything exploding into existence from this one singular speck.

I don't know, maybe my brain isn't big enough to comprehend it or I haven't taken enough science classes, or whatever. The show did a great job of trying to demonstrate how vast and immense our universe is. How in the world could all of this "stuff" have been compressed into one tiny (relatively speaking) little spheroid? I mean, we're talking about trillions upon trillions upon trillions to the Nth power tons worth of mass. How did all that explode from a little ball?

Not only that, I can't believe that the Big Bang was the beginning of it all. All that mass had to have come from somewhere. It couldn't have just appeared out of nothing, right? And as our universe is continuously expanding, where did all this empty space come from that it is expanding into? Or is it creating "space" as it expands? If so, what is on the other side of that space?

I have a feeling our universe is much, much older than we currently think. I imagine a "modified" Big Bang theory, but it's not about how it began, but a continuous process. I'm thinking that our universe is constantly expanding and contracting upon itself. Eventually, the expansion of our universe will slow to a halt and then begin to reverse. The contraction will be very, very slow at first, but as masses start to get closer together, the contraction will speed up faster and faster. The building gravity will draw everything together and compact it all into an ever-decreasing space. All the mass will eventually collapse upon itself, which will cause a humongous explosion of energy, much like a collapsing star going supernova. All the mass will be ejected back out into space to start the whole cycle over again, expanding and evolving the universe until it once again reaches its stretching point and collapses again.

Well, that's how I imagine it could happen, anyway!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Hawkings knows things.

Look to the skies...!

[-=CROMAN=-]

RobbW: Check out membranes in String and M-Theory. It will give you quite a bit more to think about in regards to expansion and contraction.