The Case for a Creator - Lee Strobel [61]
“This cyclic scenario is plagued with problems. For one thing, it is inconsistent with the very string theory it’s based on! Nobody has been able to solve that problem. Moreover, this is simply the five-dimensional equivalent of a three-dimensional oscillating universe. As such, it faces many of the same problems that the old oscillating model did.
“But more interesting is that in 2001, inflation theorist Alan Guth and two other physicists wrote an article on how inflation is not past eternal. They were able to generalize their results to show that they were also applicable to multidimensional models, like the one in this newspaper article. So it turns out that even the cyclical model in five dimensions has to have a beginning.”
Craig sighed as he sat back in his chair. “It’s amazing how this falls into a consistent pattern,” he said. “Theories designed to avoid the beginning of the universe have either turned out to be untenable, like the Steady State theory, or else they imply the very beginning of the universe that their proponents have been desperately trying to avoid.”
“So the future of this cyclic scenario is . . . what?”
“It will probably provide grist for further exploration,” he said. “Still, another prominent inflation theorist, André Linde, said this concept has been very popular among journalists and very unpopular among cosmologists.”
“Speaking of Linde,” I said, “he proposed another theory, called chaotic inflation, that would eliminate the need for a beginning point.”
“That’s right,” Craig said. “He speculated that maybe inflation—this rapid expansion of the universe—never really quits. He said maybe the universe expands like a balloon, and when it reaches a certain point, then inflation is spawned off of it and begins to expand, and then something expands off of that. So you have inflation begetting inflation begetting inflation, and it goes on forever. The obvious question, then, is this: could inflation be eternal in the past? Could every inflationary domain be the creation of a prior domain so that the universe is an eternally inflating and self-reproducing entity?”
“Is that possible?”
“I’m afraid not. As I said earlier, a universe that is eternally inflating toward the future cannot be past eternal. Two prominent physicists demonstrated that as far back as 1994. There has to be a beginning at some point in the indefinite past. In Linde’s response, he admitted they were correct.”
I thought about another popular alternative: quantum models of the universe, like Edward Tryon’s, which I mentioned earlier. There are several variations, but basically they claim that our universe is part of a bigger mother universe, which is made up of a quantum vacuum where fluctuations occur and turn into baby universes. Our universe is one of these offspring. While our universe is expanding, the bigger mother universe is infinite and eternal.
When I brought up this concept, though, Craig pointed out two fatal problems with it. “Remember we said earlier in our conversation that a quantum vacuum isn’t nothing, but that it’s a very active sea of fluctuating energy that itself demands an explanation for how it came into being,” he said. “What accounts for its beginning? And second, there is a positive—that is, a non-zero—probability that a fluctuation would occur and a universe would be spawned at each and every point in this quantum vacuum.
“So if the mother universe were eternal, eventually a universe would have formed at each point. Think about that. Finally these universes would be running into each other or coalescing until the entire quantum vacuum in the mother universe would be filled with an infinitely old universe, which contradicts our observations. That’s why this model hasn’t survived.”
HAWKING’S CHALLENGE
Most developments in cosmology live an obscure existence within the pages of arcane scientific journals, with only a few—often, the most outlandish ones—receiving even