20
back
5 / 06
Image of birds flying. Image of birds flying.

#154 Lightning Strikes Again

March 29, 2010
Q

Dear Dr. Craig,

I came up across a new cosmological model developed by Roger Penrose called Conformal Cyclic Cosmology where he claims that when the universe reaches its ultimate destiny of maximal entropy it somehow "loses" track of time due to the absence of matter and comes into being once again through a new Big Bang. His theory argues that there is only one universe which goes through different phases or eons as he calls them. Each eon begins with a Big Bang and ends with maximal entropy, which in turn implies that entropy goes back to zero and transforms into a new big bang and so forth.
A video of one of his presentations can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ-D5AUGVcI

I am wondering if this theory is sound. If so, how does it impact the Kalam Cosmological Argument?

Many thanks,

George

Flag of United States. United States

Photo of Dr. Craig.

Dr. craig’s response


A

Jim Sinclair and I are co-authoring a piece on the beginning of the universe, and Jim is interacting with Penrose’s new conformal cosmological model. Jim argues persuasively that the phases of the model are not temporally ordered as earlier and later but are instead actually two universes with a common past boundary. Penrose’s model is thus really a model of a multiverse with a beginning.

- William Lane Craig