Steve ponders:
> > In the Big Bang, the universe flupped out of nothingness, as a sort of
> > unlikely macro-example of the mechanism by which matter
> > constantly flups in
> > and out of nothingness at the quantum level.
>
> Into what nothingness-replaced-by-existence did this proto-universe flup?

While everything I've read seems to imply that the Universe is
self-contained and as such it makes no sense to discuss what is "outside",
perhaps because topologically there is no "outside", I find this quite
unsatisfying as I suspect Steve and many other people do.

Of course if I knew enough to ask intelligent questions about it, then I'd
probably understand why I don't need to ask such questions :-)

I would be interested in knowing if there is a good reason why our current
Universe *can't* be embedded in, say, a big flat empty 3-dimensional space,
which would give it a "place" to have come into existence and would provide
potential explanations for how the Universe came to be (perhaps as a really
improbable set of fluxuations in the quantum vacuum environment.

I have a lot less difficulty imagining an infinite flat empty space that has
always been there (empty space doesn't necessarily seem to require a
beginning, since it's pretty much nothing to begin with) than a spontaneous
creation without a location (which would seem to seem to imply some
triggering event or supernatural being which in turn implies some external
or higher-level existence and thus just complicates the process of trying to
understand *everything* because now we have to find out where that pesky
"higher-level existence" came from).

Once you have empty space, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine a
Universe's worth of matter popping into existence spontaneously.  Quantum
physics tells us that "empty space" is actually constantly seething with
"virtual" particles which come into existence for very brief periods of
time.  The reality of these "virtual" particles can actually be measured due
to their effects on ordinary "real" matter.  Normally the life-span of these
virtual particles is very brief (and inversely proportional to their mass)
as they can only borrow so much energy for so long before they have to give
it back and cease to exist again.

But perhaps there is come complex and *almost* impossible sequence of
interactions between virtual particles that results in an apparently "real"
particle escaping indefinitely.  If so, then all you have to do is wait a
while for enough of these improbable creation events to occur at the same
place and time to equal the mass of the Universe.

The great thing about low-probability Universe creation events like this is
that even though they might be so improbable that your mind might explode
trying to comprehend how big a duration of time we're talking about, that's
ok because nobody is there waiting around for it to happen (We'll assume
that if God did it then He can either arrange for it to happen quickly or
simply invoke His Infinite Patience (but that's still a lot of games of
solitaire, especially if you always win)).

Now you may refuse to believe that something so improbable would ever happen
spontaneously, but when the time you have on your hands is truly *infinite*
then everything which is possible *must* happen eventually.  Or as they say:

   "That which is not Forbidden is Compulsory"

G.

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