The problem is that cosmology doesn’t really buy that particular conception of “expanding.” Indeed, I’ve heard cosmologist say that a better metaphor for what the universe is doing isn’t exactly expanding but “stretching.” It’s stretching because space is, in a sense, still being created-14 billion years after the Big Bang. But what is the universe expanding into, one might ask, if not into some some pre-existing empty space? After all, it says that universe is expanding. I mean what would be on the other side of the end of space? Even modern cosmology might seem to tacitly buy into that notion of infinite container space. For example, if we put modern physics aside for a second and ask where space could possibly come to an end, the imagination boggles at the very idea. Though modern physics doesn’t think of space that way anymore, it’s hard to get past that way of thinking. He saw space as sort of like this infinite pre-existing absolute container that encompasses all matter. And it’s not just commonsense that sees space that way. Now commonsense has it that space isn’t created at all. But not the Big Bang itself because the Big Bang is what created space in the first place. Of course, everything subsequent to the Big Bang happened somewhere. Where did the big bang happen then? Nowhere! There was no place where the Big Bang happened. Notions like “outward” or “center” only apply to things that happen in a place. Nothing like that could possibly have happened. But despite popular misconceptions, nothing like that happened in the Big Bang. Like when a bomb or a grenade goes off and you get matter and energy being thrown outward in all directions. An explosion involves a rapid expansion outward from a center. But technically speaking, the Big Bang wasn’t actually an explosion at all. So you might think that the Big Bang must have been one hell of an explosion. Now they say that the Big Bang gave birth to the entire universe. It’s another episode in our series " A Philosophical Guide to the Cosmos." Our topic this week is the Big Bang – Before and After.
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