"The UNIVERSE is MADE of NOTHING.." - Theoretical Physicist, Lawrence Krauss

Every decent physical theory is expressed in math. That's why Krauss is sometimes search for words. He knows the concept mathematically, physically, but he has to make his brain translate that into a rough English representation.

In my opinion, math is the language of God. Well maybe music too. But not English or French or Chinese.

One can make nice patterns and ideas and until they relate to measurable quantities, they don't do much. That's where string theory still is, although a lot of really smart people feel it contains truth.

Krauss is talking about actual measurable things.

When he says "nothing" he means a describable space that contains no "stuff" but does contain energy. If one took that energy and converted it to matter (E = m c^2) could you then evacuate it somewhere else and end up with space that contains no energy and no matter?

Probably there's some limit on when you can or can't do the energy to mass conversion -- the conditions for it to occur wouldn't be present in "nothing".



NESTED UNIVERSES

He says that if a new universe were created in the palm of your hand, you couldn't watch it develop because it would immediately become a black hole, hence unobservable from the outside. Let's imagine that happening and call it the "inner universe", the one we're standing in is the "outer universe". So we have nested universes.

I guess the reason the i.u. would form a black hole is because it would be negligibly small but with positive energy or mass (enough for a big bang).

So consider this new inner universe after its own big bang. It is expanding within its own space, although all this is unobservable from the o.u., me standing there looking at my palm to see what's going on.

But now since it's a black hole, some of the mass from o.u. might get sucked into it. I might even get sucked in. The mass that is sucked in would reappear as mass or energy in i.u.

So now, if WE are in an i.u. which looks like a black hole to some even more-outer universe, isn't it possible that new matter or energy is appearing as if "by magic"? Wonder how it appears.

As mass is added, it causes contraction. But if it's energy, it would cause expansion. And yet, by general relativity, mass and energy can convert from one to the other. Does this happen in a way to balance or control the expansion rate of the universe?

Education & Academic History:

•1977 - Undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics at Ottawa's Carleton University, having earned first class honours.
•1982 - Physics Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
•1982 to 1985 - Member of the Harvard Society of Fellows
•1985 to 1993 - Assistant and then associate professorship at Yale
•1993 to 2005 - He went on to serve as the Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy, and Chairman of the department of Physics at Case Western Reserve University
•2008 to present (2011, at least) - Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Department, and Inaugural Director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University

Scientific Background:

Lawrence Krauss is a cosmologist, meaning that he studies the origins of the universe. In fact, he now runs the Origins Project at Arizona State University, which is a "transdisciplinary initiative that nurtures research, energizes teaching, and builds partnerships, offering new possibilities for exploring the most fundamental of questions who we are and where we came from." In this capacity, together with his scientific writing, he seeks to spread knowledge about the origins, evolution, and history of the universe to a general public.

Krauss and Scientific Controversies:

Lawrence Krauss is not one to shy away from a controversy, and working to find the origins of the universe can certainly cause some controversies.

Religion and Science: Though he is an atheist, he often takes a devil's advocate-style position which at times places him in amiable conflict with some more prominent atheists, such as Richard Dawkins (who once said Krauss asked him an "I'm an atheist, but..." question, which are far harder to tackle than the outright pro-religion questions). It seems that Krauss's goal is to teach everyone - the faithful and the atheist - what science tells us about the universe and its history, not particularly caring about changing their underlying belief structure.

String Theory Critic: Krauss is one of the most prominent and respected critics of string theory. His 2005 book, Hiding in the Mirror details the history and allure of invoking extra dimensions as a physical explanation, and calls into question whether this is really justified.

Lawrence Krauss is a joke...just ask anyone at ASU

Music is very numerical as well. I mean rhythm is just a frequency of occurrence and melody only has tone when intervals are created between notes. It's very visual to some people the same way geometry is to others.

While I'm a bit apprehensive about using the word "God" (so as not to confuse the belief with a specific anthropomorphized interpretation of a higher power), I think math is the language used to explain an infinitely consistent form of perfect order. Same thing, I suppose.

ASU is a joke just ask Lawrence Krauss

Daath should not be pictured.

If our universe were a black hole and sucking in matter/etc. perhaps that could be an alternative theory to explain the expansion of our universe. The expansion is actually more matter being added. Think of it like a ballon expanding and from our perspective (which is always the "center") space is expanding, which it is.

You ones will keep up at this as long as you do not read and understand Walter russell.

but i bet if i asked Lawrence Krauss for all his possessions he'd say NO! even though they are made of nothing

ASU is a joke just ask Lawrence Krauss

If our universe were a black hole and sucking in matter/etc. perhaps that could be an alternative theory to explain the expansion of our universe. The expansion is actually more matter being added. Think of it like a ballon expanding and from our perspective (which is always the "center") space is expanding, which it is.

Yeah at least matter getting sucked in and appearing in i.u. as matter can fill up that new space created by expansion. If it appears as energy it would cause an increase in the total energy, and since I guess the rate of expansion is proportional to energy or energy density, this would cause an acceleration (increase in rate) in expansion.

The responsible thing for me to do now would be to try to learn this a bit more properly, without all the conversion into English, then I might see things more properly.