Religion and Science: Cosmology in Speculative Fiction

[Xeviat]

[ic=Genesis 1:1-3, from "New World Translations of the Holy Scriptures"]In [the]beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of [the] watery deep; and God's active force was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. And God proceeded to say: "Let light come to be." Then there came to be light.[/ic]

[note]I am not a physicist or a cosmologist. I might be getting this slightly wrong.[/note][ic=The Big Bang]Before the Big Bang, all that was and ever will be was in an infinitesimally small and hot state. Then, gravity became separate from the super force, and expansion occurred; faster than the speed of light, the universe grew, and time and space came into being. Matter and Anti-Matter battled, annihilating each other, but a small excess of matter existed, leading to the predominance of matter in the universe.

At about 10^ˆ'6 seconds after the Big Bang, Protons, Neutrons, and the other baryons were formed, including their corresponding antiparticles. The universe cooled, and no new particle pairs were formed, so the Protons and Neutrons annihilated their antiparticles. A few minutes after the Big Bang, some protons and neutrons combined to form deuterium and helium nuclei, but most protons remained as hydrogen nuclei. 379,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe cooled enough to allow electrons and to join these nuclei, creating atoms. These eventually condensed into stars and all that we see.[/ic]

I am not here to discuss reality except as it could affect and influence fiction. We are all mature here, so I hope we can find a way to not offend each other. We've had good political discussions that did not devolve into murder, so I think we can do the same here. I'd like to discuss the similarities between different cosmological models, and pose the beginnings of a science fantasy setting that has been circulating in my head (I know I know, I haven't finished my first, but I need to follow through with this current thought process).

So, my first observation here is that cosmologies are created through observations. As time progresses, the poetry of the story is lost while the tools for observations are advanced. For lay people, though, both the intricacies of myth and science are foreign and difficult to grasp. For priests and scientists, their own tales make perfect sense. This thinking makes me remember this:

[spoiler=Science vs. Norse Mythology][img=Science vs. Norse Mythology]http://www.thepaincomics.com/Science%20vs.%20Norse.jpg[/img][/spoiler]

Here is my growing thinking for my sci-fantasy setting:[list=type]Stars are gods, and their power extends to their solar systems and the creatures they birth within.
*The Big Bang was created when the first god died.
*When a star dies they leave behind white dwarfs, neutron stars, or the dreaded black holes. (I was under the impression that super nova nebula could condense into new stars, but I'm restudying the material on stellar evolution now. Halp.)[/list]

I am thinking the region of their galaxy I will use for the setting will be an area more dense with stars than our own position in our galaxy. I'll be using fun psudoscience to allow for interstellar travel and communication, as well as miniature fission and fusion reactors and a fully fictional "matter to energy" conversion more full than fusion (allowing matter to be wholesale converted into pure energy, which will be the basis for the setting's "magic").

But I'd like to see what type of discussion this thread could spark outside of considerations for my future setting. Thoughts?

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

FOR THOR! :axe:

I think I need something cleared first: are you making a magic cosmology using science as your inspiration?

[Matt Larkin (author)]

If stars are gods, you'll have more gods than people. Unless you assume every solar system is inhabited.

I recommend A Brief History of Time on almost all the science topics in this thread.

I am thinking the region of their galaxy I will use for the setting will be an area more dense with stars than our own position in our galaxy. I'll be using fun psudoscience to allow for interstellar travel and communication, as well as miniature fission and fusion reactors and a fully fictional "matter to energy" conversion more full than fusion (allowing matter to be wholesale converted into pure energy, which will be the basis for the setting's "magic").

This part is quite interesting.

[Ghostman]

The Norse side has a very convincing final argument :D

a fully fictional "matter to energy" conversion more full than fusion (allowing matter to be wholesale converted into pure energy, which will be the basis for the setting's "magic").

Kind of like matter-antimatter annihilation, but without the need for antimatter?

If stars are gods, then black holes must be dead gods? Or undead gods...

[Xeviat]

Ghostman: Yup, no antimatter needed. Or maybe they have a way of converting matter to antimatter and then annihilating more matter. I may or may not make psudoscientific explanations for the magic fully.

Black holes are undead gods, horrors that direct their creations out to bring them food. Black Dwarfs are the dead gods who lay peacefully. White Dwarfs are peaceful dying gods. Neutron stars ... I don't know yet.

Phoenix: Not every solar system is inhabited. There are lots of gods, but those that are too far away really don't matter except in terms of astrological divination. A star's power doesn't reach directly beyond it's noticeable gravity (I'm sure gravity extends farther than I realize). Most are definitely not named.

I've got the book, I love Hawking's writing style. I've got a new book on black holes written by one of Hawking's rivals (the book's about their argument on black hole physics stuff).

SilvercatMoonpaw: Yeah, basically. That's why it's "sci-fantasy". The only real difference between this setting an reality is that I'm having stars possess consciousness (which will be timeless consciousnesses, to justify things like divination using stars that are millions of light years away; but light already does crazy timeless things when it comes to the whole particle/wave issue). Oh, and the whole magic thing, but it will have psudoscientific explanations (there will not be midoclorians, don't worry).

[Matt Larkin (author)]

The Universe in a Nutshell is a slightly more recent book that addressed some of the issues you mention. But I wasn't as wowed by it--perhaps only because I read it second so most of the material was not as new.

[Xeviat]

I'll give it a looksie next time I'm hanging around Boarders.

Though my first thought was "the universe hasn't fit inside a nutshell for a very very very long time ... lol.