The best read so far, other than the alas too dated The First Three
Minutes (Weinberg) is Guth's The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for
a New Theory of Cosmic Origins. Its fairly readable and shows the
historic struggle to get beyond certain problems the early Standard
Model had.
http://tinyurl.com/82sovor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201328402/qid=1134932455/sr=8-2/
ref=pd_bbs_2/103-9781154-1655041?n=507846
I like in particular many of his points that are NOT standard quantum
mechanics or general relativity but more thermodynamic. For example,
the proton/neutron ratio derived out of thermal equilibrium at a
particular temperature. And naturally, the very core of inflation is
thermodynamic in a way by considering a phase transition and a sub-
critical state in the vacuum flux (sorta like water below freezing:
the transition to ice is dramatic.)
String theory .. hmm. Yes, I gotta admit its tough to work with
theories that are not verifiable. There is rumor of some indirect
validations that will be available in the next decade, but its a long
shot. Loop quantum gravity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_quantum_gravityis getting an edge in the unification world due to not needing the
extra dimensions.
Owen
On Dec 18, 2005, at 9:35 AM, Douglas Roberts wrote:
> Giles,
>
> Are you a physicist? I'm not one, myself, but my father in law is
> a theoritical astrophysicist, and one of my long-time "hobbies" has
> been the study of cosmology. I am curious why you think the big
> bang theory is ridiculous. *All* of the observable evidence
> (cosmic background radiation, redshift, COBE's ovservations of the
> anisotropy of the ovservable universe) supports a big bang origin.
>
> --Doug
>
> On 12/18/05, Giles Bowkett <gilesb at gmail.com> wrote:On 12/17/05,
> Robert Holmes <rholmes62 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I'm just confirmed in my belief that string theory is about as
> scientific as
> > intellgient design, just with harder mathematics.
>
> I have to say I agree with this position wholeheartedly. I don't even
> believe in the Big Bang. I think the whole thing is ridiculous. (I
> wrote a huge rant about this and then left it in "Drafts" as a public
> service.)
-- Owen
Owen Densmore
http://backspaces.net -
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