Questions for Atheists - If Time is Infinite, How Did We Get to the Present?
9If time never had a beginning, but rather goes backwards infinitely or has gone through an infinite number of cycles, then how is it possible that we are here today?
The question uses our intuition about infinity to suggest that if time extends forever into the past, we could never have reached the present day.
However, thus makes some assumptions about what both infinity and time mean in the context of the Cosmos.
If we explore the arrow of time and entropy together, we can see that maybe the universe will arrive at a state where the arrow of time vanishes, and all that will be left are the quantum fluctuations that are inherent to the primordial state that seemingly underpins everything.
From these fluctuations, a universe might be born, with its own space-time nested within the wider Cosmos.
Script Basis (See Below for Sources)
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In its simplest terms, the moment we are at currently is always "now." How did we get to now? Because a series of events transpired that moved towards the present and on the way, allowed for our existence.
Time is not a well understood feature of reality. It is a topic that many eminent scientists and philosophers have thought long and hard about. The two most popular theories of time currently are referred as the A and B theories of time, which differ in the respect as to whether only the present can be said to exist.
However, if we set that aside, what seems intuitive to us is that there is an arrow of time. Time only moves in one direction. This is unlike the other dimensions. The reason postulated as to why this might be is because entropy tends to increase. A state tends to become less organised - or more chaotic if you like - as time progresses. The universe cannot in its totality arrive at a lower entropy state.
Or at least, not in the form that we observe it today. It is conceptually possible under the Big Bounce hypothesis that entropy can be reset as the universe itself is reset.
But there is another, more elegant theory, that was put forward by Sean Carroll. Since we are fairly confident that entropy will continue to increase until there is no useable energy in the universe and everything will basically "stop," the ramification of that is that the arrow of time will cease to exist. Causality will no longer exist. What will be left will be the spontaneous, probabilistic quantum fluctuations that seem to underpin everything.
From this possibility arises the potential for a localised Big Bang, with its own arrow of time, which to all intents and purposes could be considered a new universe, although actually in practice would simply be a region of the Cosmos that is a long way away. In other models, two universes appear with different arrows of time, where one appears as a mirror to the other.
By means of this series of mechanisms, it is possible for a universe to arise with its own independent-seeming space-time, that gives rise to organisms that could bear a less-than-passing resemblance to ourselves.
Questions
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https://whygodreallyexists.com/archives/questions-for-atheists
Background Reading and Script Basis
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"What if the universe had no beginning?" by Paul Sutter published October 11, 2021, LiveScience
https://www.livescience.com/universe-had-no-beginning-time
"What Is Time? One Physicist Hunts for the Ultimate Theory," by Erin Biba, FEB 26, 2010, Wired
https://www.wired.com/2010/02/what-is-time/
"What Is Time? A Simple Explanation" by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. updated on November 26, 2019, ThoughtCo
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-time-4156799#The%20Beginning%20and%20End%20of%20Time
"10 Fascinating Theories about The Beginning Of Time," by Will, Eskify
http://eskify.com/10-fascinating-theories-beginning-time/
Media Sources and Image Credits
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Ron Lach
https://www.pexels.com/photo/clear-hour-glass-on-frame-7954883/
Valentina Piñeros
https://www.pexels.com/photo/closeup-of-a-sprayed-metal-gate-14667980/
Tuesday Temptation
https://www.pexels.com/photo/low-light-photography-of-white-arrow-833317/
Mike González
https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-bouncing-two-basketball-balls-13707176/
Fluctuations in the void
ETH Zurich
Lukas Hartmann
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-shattered-mirror-near-ladder-1669610/