By Eric J. Lerner
Book Review
By Richard E. Noble
I am not a scientist. My interest in cosmology stems from my interests in philosophy and the ancient arguments over this topic arising between philosophers and theologists or as it evolved between religion and science. The author is also interested in these philosophical and theosophical debates and he maps parts of his debate on the Big Bang cosmology and his plasma cosmology on his understanding of these ancient philosophical and religious arguments.
These sections of the book I found extremely interesting and accurate. This is a very interesting approach for a science book. It brings to my mind a book by George Soros that I read recently where he relates his interest in philosophy to his investment strategies.
The author brings economics and its history into the debate also. This is another very interesting approach from my point of view. Equating the cosmological estimation of a historical period to the degree of economic depression or prosperity is extremely logical and quite revealing. I had no trouble at all understanding the author’s inferences in this regard. I found nothing to question or challenge in this area.
This book challenges the accepted Big Bang Cosmological Theory. The Big Bang theory contends that the universe began as a single cataclysmic explosion ten or twenty billion years ago. The author is a scientist who has involved himself in an alternative cosmological theory and discipline known as “plasma cosmology.”
“Today, Big Bang theorists see a universe much like envisioned by the medieval scholars – a finite cosmos created ex-nihilo, from nothing, whose perfection is in the past, which is degenerating to a final end.”
Plasma theory deals with electricity in gases in the universe and the ability of these electrically charged gases to form matter, planets, galaxies and eventually the universe and to continue on in a positive direction, infinitely.
I am not even going to attempt to explain the author’s plasma cosmology. But from my point of interest the author is consistent with the basics as I understand them.
The author does not believe that something can come from nothing. In many books defending the Big Bang, this notion is advanced. I have never accepted such a premise. This author’s theory is consistent with the laws of conservation of matter and energy.
The author states that his theory is consistent with an infinite, self-regenerating universe. The universe does not have to have a beginning nor does it need to end. It always was and always will be. This point is anathema to many religious explanations of the origins of the universe.
The author challenges the interpretation of the second law of thermodynamics. The universe, he explains, is not devolving to a negative state as the current misinterpretation of this law suggests but growing in complexity as it always has and always will. He elaborates on this point to other scientists and in the appropriate scientific language.
This author challenges on a scientific level all the established notions and established scientists, including Heisenberg, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and many others.
That the universe always has been is the only intelligent position that can be offered on the subject, rationally in my opinion. This is as far as the cause and effect search can take us. To go beyond the notion that the Universe is where all our knowledge begins is to step into the realm of religion, mysticism, superstition, revelation and the supernatural. We have the universe and we have science with its observations and experimentations and that is where our inquiry should begin and end.
The author also establishes that time travels in one direction. It is not reversible. Just because equations are reversible does not substantiate any fantasy of traveling backward or forwards in time. I have found this notion totally ridiculous. I’ve ordered a book the author recommends on this subject, “Order out of Chaos” by Illa Prigogine.
There is only one area where I disagree with the author, slightly. But it seems to me many scientists fall into this same trap. Hawking in his last book makes pretty much the same misstatement.
Mr. Lerner confirms the ancient argument over freewill with the supposition that because man has an infinite number of choices he then has free will.
Man does not have freewill in the philosophical and theological sense because he could not have possibly chose to exist. Man’s existence is thus arbitrary and no number of choices will abolish that fact. Man is free to conform to his physiological, biological and genetic preset. This was determined by however it was that human beings originated via the universe. This at present is unknown.
Choices do not make the freewill notion valid. Chain a man to a wall and then offer him a million compensations. Having a million choices does not free him from being chained to the wall. And having choices does not set man free from an arbitrary existence.
To me this book is the most logical and straight forward book written by a scientist that I have read in a very long time. I have already ordered other books suggested in this text. I feel that my interest in science has been renewed.
I more than agree with the author in his insinuation that most of today’s science is wrongheaded. We are basically living in a Ptolemaic scientific state. Some drastic turnarounds to get the scientific community heading back in the direction of logic and sound scientific reasoning are necessary. As the author states, at present the Big Bang is being used and distorted by economic and theocratic inclinations to pressure and push science back into the mystical and theocratic. We are returning to the dark ages where logic, reason and scientific experimentation are being replaced by theorizing, and rationalized dogmatic inclinations – complete with computer paradigms and hypothetical models. I would give this book ten stars if I could. This author has a web site: http://www.bigbangneverhappened.org/.
I have found no other books written by this author for the general reader. But I will be keeping an eye out for any new books by this gentleman.
I must repeat. I think this is a great book!!
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