before existence... what did it look like?

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Of course the "Pulsating Universe" theory just puts the question back in time.....what prompted the first pulse?

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I think that's my favourite part of this kind of discussion, MacShreach.

i love the idea that there is no "first", no beginning. maybe this pre-concieved notion, that we as humans have, that everything has to have a start, duration and end doesn't apply when it comes to the universe (or indeed universes).

this idea, which through discussing with people and noticing the majority think the same, that "timeless" is non-existent is perhaps proof that maybe we're just not supposed to know what happened, that it's beyond our grasp.

on the other side of the coin, you could say that this world of ours is such a teeny, tiny miniscule part of this system that is doesn't matter what happened or what we think as we have no consequence upon it. so lets just have fun and get pissed!

that why i'm with you jaycanuk, i think some booze needs to flow before the words do!

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Originally Posted by MacShreach

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Originally Posted by NYBURBS

I would say it was dark, but then again darkness is something and yet there was supposedly nothing.

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Black holes are dark because there gravity is such that light itself is unable to escape. There must have been a point before the Big Bang when all matter and energy that exists was collected together, and the gravity of this mind-boggling mass would be such that the same would surely be true, so yes...total darkness and silence.

Nothing.

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Yea but is darkness something? We perceive it, so therefore it's not a stretch to say it is something. We're limited in our understanding by what we can perceive, so it's kinda tough to say either way. It's just one of those things that can cause you to go round and round in your head until you go crazy lol.

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Originally Posted by NYBURBS

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Originally Posted by MacShreach

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Originally Posted by NYBURBS

I would say it was dark, but then again darkness is something and yet there was supposedly nothing.

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Black holes are dark because there gravity is such that light itself is unable to escape. There must have been a point before the Big Bang when all matter and energy that exists was collected together, and the gravity of this mind-boggling mass would be such that the same would surely be true, so yes...total darkness and silence.

Nothing.

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Yea but is darkness something?

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Total darkness is a complete absence of light....You can't call an absence "something" in a tangible sense, although you could in a conceptual or philosophical sense. But the OP asked about what it would look like; there might be something there, but in the total absence of light, we would see nothing. And so that's what it would look like.

interesting thoughts guys... but perhaps our universe is just a speck of dust sitting on someone's window sill inside of a much bigger universe... maybe when we get the answers in our next lives, we will be saying, wow, that's so obvious, i cant believe i couldn't figure it out!

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Originally Posted by droog

interesting thoughts guys... but perhaps our universe is just a speck of dust sitting on someone's window sill inside of a much bigger universe... maybe when we get the answers in our next lives, we will be saying, wow, that's so obvious, i cant believe i couldn't figure it out!

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I want some of what he's smokin!

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Originally Posted by MacShreach

I want some of what he's smokin!

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Originally Posted by ScottyBabe

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Of course the "Pulsating Universe" theory just puts the question back in time.....what prompted the first pulse?

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I think that's my favourite part of this kind of discussion, MacShreach.

i love the idea that there is no "first", no beginning. maybe this pre-concieved notion, that we as humans have, that everything has to have a start, duration and end doesn't apply when it comes to the universe (or indeed universes).

this idea, which through discussing with people and noticing the majority think the same, that "timeless" is non-existent is perhaps proof that maybe we're just not supposed to know what happened, that it's beyond our grasp.

on the other side of the coin, you could say that this world of ours is such a teeny, tiny miniscule part of this system that is doesn't matter what happened or what we think as we have no consequence upon it. so lets just have fun and get pissed!

that why i'm with you jaycanuk, i think some booze needs to flow before the words do!

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:rock2 This is the best answer in my opinion. Humans are not intelligent enough to comprehend or come up with the answer to that question.

No human will ever know the answer while alive, therefore it is not a question to be asked, technically.

Never say never. Well... Except you never know what you don't know.

Now I'm with Scotty on the time abstract, but the question was: "Before Existence..." The question itself assumes a reality of the time abstract with the word "before", but it's not necessary to include time in the answer.

If nothing exists, there's nothing to perceive. There's nothing for light to reflect off of. There's nothing to generate light. There's no light. There's nothing to look at anyway. It all sounds exceedingly dull. Think I'll just hang around & see if I can't get involved in a big bang.

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what did life, as we know it, look like, before anything existed?

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What did life look like TO WHOM, before anything existed? Perhaps the intent of of original question is, “If someone were there to observe it, what would it had looked like before anything existed?” But to that question one would have to counter, “Where would that observer have been, if nothing…not even space, with its three distinct dimensions…existed?” There would’ve have been no place to be. Worse, there was no time before time. More accurately, “before” has no meaning in such a context. At this point words fail us and we stumble over them.

The answer to this is. Suppose you existed in your own little parallel universe and have a great view of the universe before the big bang. What would you see?

Nothing, because there would be no light, and no space-time for the light to travel through to get to you. (Remember the big bag created not just matter and light filling in some void, it created the very space-time we live in itself. It is often thought of as an explosion but it really wasn't.)

Supposing you could get inside the tiny point that the universe banged out of what would you see? Again nothing, because based on the best theories we have the universe was so compact that gravity, E&M (light) and the nuclear forces were all unified into one force. There wasn't even light as we know it. Nothing we know of could live in our universe.

The only thing left is to consider all the different types of parallel universes that could exist, Now about those we can know nothing for sure.