Wendy Freedman - Did Our Universe have a Beginning?

Everything in the universe has a beginning, but how can the universe as a whole have a beginning? Does the cosmos come with a start date? Does a universal commencement make sense? What would it possibly mean? And what if there are multiple universes? Does the entire multiverse have a beginning?

Wendy Laurel Freedman is a Canadian-American astronomer, best known for her measurement of the Hubble Constant, and as John and Marion Sullivan University Professor in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago.

Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[matthewweflen]

Dr. Freedman is extraordinarily and admirably clear in her explanations. Great guest.

[jonnyjay]

People need to differentiate between our observable universe and everything that does/might exist

[alexlang]

What about new discovery of James webb telescope? This is not up to date

[pablocopello]

I do not understand how people that dedicate to science do not distinguish between being finite vs being limited. That is: the existence of a finite amount of time to the past does not imply the existence of a beginning. That is: given any instant T, there could always exist instants before T (so that T is not the beginning of time), even if there exist a finite amount of time to the past. (think of the real numbers that are "strictly" positive: there is no first real strictly positive).

I do not understand how people that dedicate to science still think that there can be an "absolute" answer to questions like that. They should understand that there is no possible "final" model of reality, all models are approximations, any model will be substituted in the future (if there is a future for us). We cannot know the "absolute", we can just have approximations that make more or less accurate and reliable predictions within a certain limited "realm" of reality, and if we continue expanding our reach (do not auto destruct our technological civilization), we will always go beyond the limits of any given model (to where the model ceases to be a good/useful approximation).

[browngreen]

The current universe may have had a beginning, but Existence itself may be eternal.

[rochford]

Could the current universe be 2.0 or 3 or 4🤔❓...who knows🥺

[copernicus]

Is the past infinite? We conceive of the future as infinite. But the future is actually unbounded, as opposed to infinite. The future is not a completed thing but is ongoing without limit. The past on the other hand is a completed thing, and if infinite, is without a beginning. The phrase “from here to eternity” is used about the future. For the infinite past, it becomes “from eternity to here”.

[antoniomiguelsimao]

This must be an older then 2021 interview because it doesn't consider or talk about the James Webb telescope. It doesn't talk about the big galaxys found just before 1.000 milion years that poses questions: how is it possible? Was the rate of grow of the universe faster? If it was how come? Could that come from another universe? If the rate of groing was variable we cant calculate the age if the universe using the present day model

[leoborganelli]

Well stated! She's convicted in her responses. Great job

[jamesruscheinski]

could there be something everywhere outside universe that pulls the universe out, maybe a source of gravity, leading to accelerated expansion, cooler microwave background, and other observations?

[sanandaallsgood]

Yes, our Universe had a beginning. The challenge is understanding and believing the process.

[Dogtagnan]

We are told that our galaxy has a black hole at its centre. If that's happening in this galaxy it's happening in other galaxies. If then we're told that black holes might burst outwards creating a new universe it suggests that universes have cropped up everywhere, across infinite time.

[dennistucker]

Wendy Freedman's assertion that "we know the universe is expanding..." seems like an assumption. I would say it is more accurate to say we know that we see a red shift in the light from distant galaxies. The assumption is that this red shift is due mostly to recessional velocities. I think it is more likely due mostly to gravitational effects. I see similar assumptions in the reason given for the CMB. Without regard for all the other possible reasons for the CMB, it is assumed that it is due to the big bang.

[greghelton]

Somehow I doubt there is a real zero and infinity. The universe is most likely something that behaves as a sinusoid. Infinite when it crosses the vertical axis and zero at its peak, slope-wise.

[Dkpark]

I don't think she understood the question. The question is, how do we know the universe has a beginning to its EXISTENCE not expansion.

[jago]

So did the Big Bang happen independently, without any cause or stimulus? And if there was a cause, wouldn't that force or cause be closer to the true beginning?

[tarekabdelrahman]

She provides a good explanation for our universe beginning within a stage or bracket of time but not as an absolute beginning
Of course the extremely infinitely small infinitely dense energy and matter was not by itself a beginning. It has rather been converted from a different form.
So within the scope of our science, it seems impossible to reach a true beginning. And if we imagine a true beginning could be explained, this will defy existence of God.
So let us reverse the approach and we then can imagine that God created the universe and the science governing it in such way so we can logically reach to the conclusion of his existence.

[tedgrant]

It must be very comforting for Hindus to know that they are right.

[nenzattibellece]

The universe had a beginning, indeed, but its component (energy) and place (space) always existed.

[Brucec-xr]

Ends and beginnings are dreams.there has never been a creation.