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<blockquote data-quote="JimJ" data-source="post: 710970" data-attributes="member: 555251">I&#039;m no astrophysicist, but ever heard of oscillating systems? Just because the tide goes out, doesn&#039;t mean it won&#039;t come back in...A theory is just that - it&#039;s not a fact, at least not without something substantial backing it up. Tectonic plate activity used to be a theory - now we know it to be true, because we can place ultra-accurate markers on different continents and track their movements via satellite. We know the Earth to be round, and not the center of the universe. These are things that can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Such is not the case with most theories.The theory of the Big Bang isn&#039;t perfect, but it&#039;s pretty **** close. It accounts for the apparent red shift we see in galaxies, and the cosmic background radiation, and does so without taking into account creation of matter like theories before it. Is it perfect? No...but it works pretty well.Now, the big question remains...if (and I do believe when, given enough time) we discover another form of life out there, what then?Too bad we probably won&#039;t be around to witness it.addendum: if there is &quot;something else&quot; out there, I&#039;d probably take the Deist stance of Voltaire, Jefferson and most of the Founding Fathers - he&#039;s gone and left us a while ago, so we had better learn to deal with life on our own.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JimJ, post: 710970, member: 555251"] I'm no astrophysicist, but ever heard of oscillating systems? Just because the tide goes out, doesn't mean it won't come back in... A theory is just that - it's not a fact, at least not without something substantial backing it up. Tectonic plate activity used to be a theory - now we know it to be true, because we can place ultra-accurate markers on different continents and track their movements via satellite. We know the Earth to be round, and not the center of the universe. These are things that can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Such is not the case with most theories. The theory of the Big Bang isn't perfect, but it's pretty **** close. It accounts for the apparent red shift we see in galaxies, and the cosmic background radiation, and does so without taking into account creation of matter like theories before it. Is it perfect? No...but it works pretty well. Now, the big question remains...if (and I do believe when, given enough time) we discover another form of life out there, what then? Too bad we probably won't be around to witness it. addendum: if there is "something else" out there, I'd probably take the Deist stance of Voltaire, Jefferson and most of the Founding Fathers - he's gone and left us a while ago, so we had better learn to deal with life on our own. [/QUOTE]

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