我的閱讀興趣和範圍包括宇宙學。這是我會注意到並轉貼一些相關報導的原因。 

你涉及到的議題很多，也很複雜，我沒有能力做系統性(或言之成理)的討論。 

所有的各門科學都有各自的一定假設。其「論述」或理論是否成立，有許多判準，例如： 

*      是否言之成理？

*      是否與觀察到的現象(現實)相容？

*      是否能解釋其他觀察到的現象(現實)？

*      是否能預言在那些條件下，我們能觀察或複製出那些已知現象？是否能預言一些尚未觀察到的現象(現實)？(或：在那些條件下，我們應該能觀察到那些尚未觀察到的現象？)

*      是否與其他科學的理論相容？

*      是否有實際上的應用？

*      ... 

等等。 

「大爆炸」理論在目前之所以被大多數科學家接受，因為它能滿足相當多的上述判準。 

我曾說過，哲學的功能在試圖回答一些最根本的問題。我想這也是宗教的功能之一。由於我們還沒有「所有」的知識，因此我們目前還所有能力回答這些最根本的問題。所有宗教、哲學、或科學在這一方面的努力，都只是「努力」或「憶測」。當然，「憶測」有很多種： 

** 有些有某種根據；

** 有些完全沒根據；

** 有些是胡說八道；

** 有些是有目的的欺騙。 

至於如何分別這個或那個「憶測」是那一種，我想可以使用上述關於科學「論述」或理論是否成立的種種「判準」。

我認為科學和宗教以及哲學的不同大概有三點：

a.     科學理論必須接受該學門中研究者的「檢驗」或「公論」；宗教或哲學理論只要有一個(論述者以外的)「信眾」或「信徒」接受。

b.     科學理論必須和現實及其他相關理論「相容」；宗教或哲學理論只要和一個(論述者以外的)「信眾」或「信徒」的想法「相容」。

c.     科學理論必須滿足多數人生活中的某些物質或生理「需要」；宗教或哲學理論只要滿足「信眾」或「信徒」的意識需要。

宗教和哲學的分別，(我認為)在於以下三點：

1)     個別論述「言之成理」的「程度」；

2)     個別論述和現實或其他理論「相容」的「程度」；

3)     個別論述對於其他學問研究「相關」或「指導能力」的「程度」。

本文於 修改第 6 次

Astronomers Detect First Split-Second of the Universe

Ker Than, Staff Writer, posted: 16 March 2006

Scientists announced today new evidence supporting the

theory that the infant universe expanded from subatomic

to astronomical size in a fraction of a second after its

birth.

The finding is based on new results from NASA's

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite,

launched in 2001 to measure the temperature of radiant

heat left over from the Big Bang, which is the theoretical

beginning to the universe.

This radiation is known as the Cosmic Microwave

Background (CMB), and it is the oldest light in the

universe.

Using WMAP data, researchers announced in 2003 that

they had pieced together a very detailed snapshot of the

universe as it was about 400,000 years after the Big

Bang, and that they had determined things like its age,

composition and development.

The previous data showed that the universe was about

13.7 billion years old. It also revealed that it wasn't until

about 200 million years after the Big Bang that conditions

were cool enough for the first stars to form. Scientists

were also able to conclude that the universe is composed

of about 4 percent real matter, about 23 percent dark

matter, and about 73 percent dark energy. Nobody

actually knows what dark matter or dark energy are,

however.

The new WMAP observations, announced at a NASA

press conference today, reveal what the universe was

like in the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang.

From the microwave background, researchers teased out

a new signal called the "polarization signal."

"This new signal is roughly 100 times weaker than the

signal we analyzed three years ago and about a billion

times less than the radiant warmth we feel from the Sun,"

said Lyman Page, a WMAP team member from Princeton

University.

The researchers collected observations of this

polarization signal to create a map of the early universe,

allowing them to test a sub-theory within the Big Bang

theory, called "inflation."

Inflation theory states that the universe underwent a rapid

expansion immediately following the Big Bang.

"During this growth spurt, a tiny region, likely no larger

than a marble, grew in a trillionth of a second to become

larger than the visible universe," said WMAP researcher

David Spergel, also from Princeton University.

The new observations reveal that the early expansion

wasn't smooth, with some regions expanding faster than

others.

"We find that density fluctuations on the 1- to 10-billion-

light-year scale are larger than density fluctuations on the

hundred-million-light-year scale," Spergel said. "That is

just what inflation theory predicts."

These fluctuations are thought to have led to clumping of

matter that allowed the formation of galaxies.

Brian Greene, a physicist from Columbia University who

wasn't involved in the research, called the new findings

"spectacular" and "stunning."

"A major question that people have asked for decades is

where do stars and galaxies come from? The answer

coming from WMAP data supports the idea that quantum

fluctuations are the answer," Greene said. "WMAP's data

supports the notion that galaxies are nothing but quantum

mechanism writ large across the sky."

The new findings brings humanity closer to answering one

of its oldest questions, that of where we come from,

Greene said.

 "WMAP certainly doesn't answer this question, but its

data is taking us one giant step closer to the answer by

giving us a precise quantitative look at the universe's

earliest fraction of a second," Greene said. "It's a tiny

window of time, but it's a critical one in our quest to learn

what happened at time zero itself."

The new findings have been submitted to Astrophysical

Journal.

·           Universe Has At Least 30 Billion Years Left 

·           The Universe: Still Boggling The Minds of 'Finite Creatures'

·           About WMAP and the Cosmic Microwave Background 

轉貼自︰

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060316_wmap_results.html