Originally posted by dryhump
Don't you see the basic problem with what you are stating? Science will never be able to explain what started the universe. They might say the big bang. Okay, so what caused the big bang? Well, the big bang was caused by a chemical reaction or a gigantic star that went supernova or whatever. Okay, so where did the chemicals come from? How did the star get ...[text shortened]... direction rule or method
On Purpose by intent, INTENTIONALLY (webster's emphasis, not mine)
….Science will never be able to explain WHAT started the universe.
.… (my emphasis)
What is the premise for your belief that there exists a thing that “WHAT started the universe”?
….Okay, so what caused the big bang?
..…
According to the main stream scientific understanding of the beginning of the universe-there was no ‘cause’ for the universe.
That is because for there to be a ‘cause’ of an event there has to be a ‘before’ the event and, according to the main stream understanding of the beginning of the universe, there was no ‘before’ the universe because time began at the start of the universe.
….In other words, how were the CONDITIONS SET that led to the big bang?
.… (my emphasis)
The “CONDITIONS SET” when? -‘before’ the big bang?
…Here are definitions to help you At Random: without definite aim direction RULE or method
..… (my emphasis)
Aren’t the laws of physics “rules”?
Isn’t the behaviour of the universe assumed to be constrained by just such “rules” right from the beginning of time thus it is not completely “random” ? (although, of course, there may be random elements within it ONCE changes had a chance to occur within it -but that would have occurred AFTER its beginning)
In order for something to be correctly defined as being “caused randomly”, doesn’t there have to be some alternative way it ‘could’ have been but wasn’t?
Can you give an example of how else the universe ‘could’ have been right at the beginning of time before any changes had a chance to occur within it? -if not, then how do you know that it is not impossible for the universe to have been in any other way/condition other than what it was right at its start thus it wasn’t “caused randomly”?
And for something to be “caused randomly”, doesn’t it have to have a “cause”? -the universe is assumed to be uncaused according to main stream scientific understanding of the beginning of the universe thus it is implicitly and generally assumed that it wasn't “caused randomly”.