Keith Knapp discussing "Time and Again"
with me...
[ observing the Big Bang with better telescopes ]
 RT>> There is a limit to how far back in time we can look if the BB model is
 RT>> accurate due to the density of the Universe being such that it was
 RT>> opaque. We can never penetrate this opacity by direct observation.
 KK> Good point.  I guess what I was trying to say was that if the early
 KK> universe turns out to be extremely different from the present one, that
 KK> would support the BB model.
It just looks different. The same rules apply even at that density and 
temperature. It's only within the first femtoseconds of the Universe that the 
laws as we understand them break down but even that picture is beginning to 
get some form despite the obstacles.
 RT>> KK> We always tend to unconsciously assume that we, as a culture, have
 RT>> a KK> pretty good picture of things, but the fact is that we really
 RT>> know very KK> little about the deep universe.
 RT>> Science is in its infancy. In 300 years from basically scratch, how
 RT>> much do y think you could learn about a 12-17 billion year old 
niverse?
 RT>> :)
 KK> As for me personally, if I'd had to use one of Galileo's extremely
 KK> primitive telescopes, I wouldn't have discovered _anything_!
Maybe, maybe not. Who's to say? You might have discovered the moons orbiting 
Jupiter that disproved the belief at that time that everything in the cosmos 
orbited earth. Mind you there was already rough mathematical evidence that 
the sun was the centre of the solar system by then anyway if my memory serves 
me correctly, so you might have had a reason for looking if you were aware of 
it.
 RT>> KK> Every time we build a better telescope, we point it up there and it
 RT>> KK> shows us some damned thing that nobody predicted.
 RT>> Yep. And we learn something more about our Universe. :)
 KK> Yeah, the next ten years are going to be fascinating.
Here's hoping. :) 
    Relatif Tuinn
... "Bother," said Pooh, as Patton slapped him.
--- Spot 1.3a #1413
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