“How can there be a start without a beginning?”

Here is the conversation that led up to this question:

Seven-year-old kid (coming from a pile of LEGOs, looking concerned): “I’m all mixed up.”

Me: “How so?”

Kid: “In order to start, you have to have a beginning.  But how can you start when there’s no start?  Everything has to have a beginning!  How do you start when there’s no beginning?!”

Me: “Is this about building a Lego robot or is this about the existence of the universe?”

Kid: “The existence of the universe.”

I reassured the worried youngster that his was a question that has been pondered by human beings ever since human beings could ponder, and that, frankly, we don’t know how the universe began.  We do know that it’s a really big question.  We also debate whether it’s relevant to our daily lives (short of the relevance in that it, apparently, happened.)  But relevant or not, answerable or not, we humans forge on to find out, and there are always some reigning theories.

Photo from WikiImages

The Universe Begins: Bang!

The currently prevailing model regarding the beginning of the universe is, of course, the Big Bang theory.  The idea is that everything started out as a singularity – that is, a single point containing all the matter that now comprises the universe.  There was no space or time yet, just that little dot of everything, with all four fundamental forces (electromagnetic, gravitational, strong and weak) combined as one (hey, maybe that was the Force!)  The dot blew up and expanded outwards, creating the universe as we know it.

The problem with this theory, math-wise, is that Einstein’s theory of general relativity – which works so well at explaining and predicting how the universe behaves – doesn’t work at the actual point of the singularity.  Quantum physicists are working on that (more on that later.)

The Universe Begins: Bounce!

There’s another idea out there that describes the universe as continually expanding and contracting down to almost a point, then bouncing back outwards again.  As explained by one of the authors, James Hartle, the universe “collapsed from a previous large phase, bounced at a small but not zero radius, and expanded again to the large phase we are living in.”

This theory doesn’t work perfectly well, math-wise, either, which the study authors readily admit.  As Hartle says, “our model does make a number of strong assumptions…this is a standard trade-off in physics.”  So far the math indicates “a good chance” – yea, a “significant possibility” that the universe started out with a bounce.

The Universe Begins: Splat!

The “big splat” theory (formally known as the ekpyrotic scenario) fits in with both big bang and big bounce theories, but has an explanation for what got things going in the first place.  The idea is that, rather than starting as a singularity, the universe rose to existence from the collision of two branes (or as quantum zombies would say, braaaaaanes!)

Part of string theory, branes are basically objects that can exist in various dimensions.  The term “brane” comes from “membrane,” the term for a two-dimensional brane.  Branes exist under the auspices of quantum physics, and they hang out and multiply anywhere/when in spacetime.  According to Paul Steinhardt at Princeton University, branes collide every trillion years or so.  When they do, they essentially destroy and recreate the universe.

The Universe With No Beginning

A new universe origin story has recently been proposed, which attempts to marry somewhat the relativity and quantum camps.  As Ahmed Farag Ali of Benha University says, “Our theory serves to complement Einstein’s general relativity, which is very successful at describing physics over large distances...But physicists know that to describe short distances, quantum mechanics must be accommodated."

Applying quantum corrections to the Raychaudhuri equation (which deals with the motion of matter in close proximity) and fitting the whole thing in with the theory of relativity, the result suggests that the Big Bang didn’t happen and the universe has just always been around.  And always will be.

 

So how do you start with no apparent beginning?

Well, as it applies to we humans making things happen, we make those beginnings by, well, starting.

Here’s what some sages have to say about it:

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”  ~Plato

 "There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting."  ~Buddha

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”  ~Walt Disney

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”  ~Arthur Ashe

“Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.”  ~Yoda

“Just go!”   ~Me, when it’s time to go

The Final Word...

…goes to the kid who started all this.  He ponders: “There might have been something that grew to fit space.”  He questions: “What was before the universe?  If there’s something more out from the universe, what is it?  It’s not nothing!”

He mulls it over: “I don’t think there was any start of everything.  But there had to be a start of everything.  How can there be a start without a beginning?  There would have to be a beginning!”

He concludes: “If you’re getting confused about this, throw away the word ‘beginning.’  Then you wouldn’t think there would be a beginning.”

Well that’s a start.