er big bang: the universe is a fluke . STRICTLY PERSONAL By now, like me, you will have had time to absorb the news that the Big Bang almost fizzled. — The Story was an item on the wire services a couple of weeks ago, one of those astonishing news flashes you hear or see, which then vanishes into the maw of the elec- _tronic superhighway, skipping away | like a stone under the wheels of - mighty rolling diesels of fact. But as regards that one particular _ item, let me say, “Whoa, hoid on! What's this? The universe almost didn’t happen? Let’s play that one back.” . Here’s the clipping, dated Dec. 5, attributed to Reuters News eaeaneeS We. TOYS ’N HOBBIES FACTORY FUTON | ‘Open 1 1-6pm daily 1425 Marine Dr, West Van 922-3512 DD alt Td caps © POM IOUT Ven POSES Lb 3a “ 3-Pack of 110 Film 24 exposure Agency: At the instant of its cre- ation, the universe “tectered on the very edge of not being born.” According to a major-league American astrophysicist, George Smoot, if matter had expanded just a hundred thousand trillionth of a second slower than it did immedi- ately after the Big Bang began, there might have been “no universe at all, or a very alien universe.” I guess this is what you'd call a Smoot point. The universe, the professor has concluded, based on his observa- tions through sutellite radio tele- scopes, came into being “through an incredible coincidence.” It was only the closest of possi- ble shaves that spared us from total non-existence or utter experient‘al weirdness in a completely different kind of universe. Except for that exact variant in. the value of a series of fundamental properties in the first seconds of the Big Bang, the stars and planets might never have formed, and that certainly wouldn’t have left much of a beachhead for sentient life, would it? And even if worlds did come into existence, they could easily have been bizarrely strange. You and I might have been born with parachutes instead of ears, for instance, or laser beams instead of arms, tentacles instead of toes, with a silicon-based consciousness and disgusting reproductive habits, probably. Given the choice, of course, I'd take alienness over oblivion any day, but maybe that's just me. Professor Smoot has a book out called Wrinkles of Tine, if you wish to pursue the matter further (oops, couldn't resist that). According to the Big Bang theo- ry, as we all know, the entire uni- verse was once compacted into a super-condensed dot that suddenly exploded, splattering newly invent- ed matter outward in a pattern which, after 20 billion years, became the universe as we know it and love it today. There are problems with the Big Bang theory, as Prof. Sinoot is quick to admit. The universe is bigger and flatter than it ought to be, if the Big Bang had happened exactly the way astrophysicists figure, and its basic suaterial is too much the same everywhere. There aren’t quite as many stars as there should be, or enough i inter- stellar dust, either. From an analytical point of - view, the big problem is that there’ aren’t enough fluctuations inthe model, you see. / And unless something called dark matter is found for sure, the theory won’t hold water, let alone the whole of creation. Let us not fail to appreciate the enormity of what Prof. Smoot is saying. This is the guy who found “ rip- ples in the fabric of the universe” last year, the first tangible evidence that the Big Bang —— or at Jeast a Big Bang — probably d did indeed occur,” includes solid pine sofa bed frame, triple foam core futon, Scotchguarded futon cover, pillows and pillow covers. Parking in rear Dec. 24, 8 am-6 Dec. 25 & 26 CL SED While quantities last. 259 E. Ist St., N, Van. ‘984-4504 Dec. 31, 8 am-6 pm Jan. 1, 1994 CLOSED The entire universe an incredible coincidence? A question of some- thing happening 100,000-trillionth of a second slower than it might have? Otherwise, a totally different reality would have emerged. This doesn't sound like the work of an omnipotent God so much as some Mulroney-like super-klutz fumbling with the cosmic dice. I mean, if it was somehow proved to be true that what we have how by way of a universe is the result of a series of coincidences during the primal chain reaction, then you have to fuce che thought that the universe is just a fluke. That certainly raises questions about whether there’s any inherent value or meaning to the universe, and therefore to life. If the universe just accidentally happened this way instead of some completely different way, and could just as easily not have happened at all, that would pretty much mean everything and anything goes, couldn't it? A universe that just as casily could not have been and could have been something else entirely, is not the kind of universe that inspires a jot of confidence in me, speaking as a Sentient being in search of com- forting transcendent wisdom. [f the universe is a fluke, what the heck am I? A sub-sub-sub- etcetera fluke, right? How alien’ would an alien uni- verse be, anyway? This one seems alien enough sometimes as it is. The repairing of the Hubble tele- scope in space should make it pos- _ sible for scientists like Prof. Smoot . to carry on their work, probing the distant edge of the universe. I should be cheering this scien- tific advance but, to tell the truth, if they are just going to find proof that the cosmos is a matter of pure cnance, I’m not,sure I really wanna know. You know? DRAPERIES BY S. LAURSEN & SON | CUSTOM DRAPERIES AND VALANCIES Labour $8.50 per ‘panel uniined, $9.50 lined. CUSTOM BEDSPREADS & COVERS Low, low prices on blinds & tracks. For’ FREE Estimates Call 987-2966 | Serving the North Shore for 23 years The St aff of Orchid Florists Would like to wish all our customers and friends a Happy Holiday Season This year offering interesting decorative giftware .... just in time for the holiday season. Delivery available throughout the lower mainland. @) 987-9351 1804 Lonsdale Ave., N. Van. Now Open Sunpays 10aM~4em