Pre-Big Bang Origins and Evolutionary Journey
of the Universal Logic Process
How the Universal Logic Process emerged and existed in the pre-big bang period
"If the miraculous, spontaneous appearance of our universe from “nothing” is open to question, then “something” existing prior to the Big Bang is possible…” (Haynes, 2010, p. 4.) For mainstream Physicists, Cosmologists and other Scientists who adhere to the big bang model and the Standard Model of Particle Physics, the pre- big bang world has largely been a forbidden territory. According to them since the basic fabric of space and time came into existence with the big bang so there was ‘nothing’ before it. Hence the question of what caused the big bang was viewed as invalid. They were happily marching along with this basic position until they came up with problems and discrepancies in their quest for unifying all forces, matter, energy and physical laws in the universe and finding their smallest, irreducible constituents. Then theoretical physics had no option but to go back to the pre-big bang to address these problems and find some tangible answers. So today the pre-big bang is an accepted area of inquiry and there are many theories and mathematical models delving into this territory. The basic premise of these models is that “…the big bang of our universe was only a transition from an earlier state…” (Vaas, 2004, p. 2) However, there is a basic limitation of both these old and new attempts to understand the causation of the big bang and the fundamental constituents of Nature. And that is their unexamined assumption, almost a dogma, that the language of Nature is mathematics. In other words, mathematics is the primary tool (of course assisted by laboratory tools wherever possible) through which we can grasp the origins and fundamental constituents of Nature. This has circumscribed the inquiry into this area to the nature of this tool and its inherent limitations. To us this unchallengeable primacy and sanctity of mathematics amounts to saying that mathematics came first and Nature afterward. Which is a clear absurdity. We know that Nature or what we call the Universal Logic Process came first, and mathematics which is a product of the human mind, emerged out of this process, as a part and product of it. So we can say that mathematical logic is one form of this Logic Process.
The issue is, if we want to reach the fundamental constituents of Nature as a whole, then we need to focus on the beginnings of Universal Logic Process. An inquiry, which cannot be undertaken only through mathematics. The simple reason being that this Logic Process cannot be encased within a post-big bang phenomenon such as mathematical symbols, words or figures. So we will have to explore and arrive at a comprehensive and useable understanding of it through the classical method of philosophical inquiry, which can use mathematics if needed and only where it is possible to do so.
We would like to begin with proposing that the pre-big bang like the post-big bang had historical stages. The earliest stage of this period would be of dimensionless space and time. Where absence of dimensions does not imply that there is no existence but only that there are no points of reference in terms of known phenomena and their existing dimensions. Here we are trying to go to a stage existing before any matter, energy, strings, quantum states, etc. Because if we begin with the existence of any of these forms then by definition it would not be the beginning. These forms will then become the focus of our attention and we will look at space and time with reference to them. Which means our inquiry will actually become confined to these forms and how we have been trying to understand them, while the question of the beginning of the Universe will become sidelined. This is why we are trying to shift focus away from all forms and concentrate only on space—Space Simpliciter—and time without any dimensions.
The dimensionless space we are proposing would be existing as a unity, but with dis-uniform parts or segments. Similarly time would be in terms of some unit X (not mathematical unit or with reference to known phenomena like rotation of stars, speed of light, etc.) which we cannot grasp (read measure). But it will be in process and happening. Thus time here means motion. And just as absence of energy and matter cannot prevent space from existing similarly their absence cannot stop time from happening. It is only that after the big bang we can count time with reference to events occurring in terms of matter or particle/energy states while in this pre-big bang period it would be occurring in terms of whatever forms were in existence then. In this dimensionless space and time we propose that before energy (as a more developed logical process) came into existence in its most micro and simplest form as almost massless particles and their quantum states, there must have existed ‘pre-energy’ components. And these components, in the infinite dimensionless segments of space, would be existing in a state of inaction vis-à-vis each other. The only characteristic of these ‘pre-energy’ components was logic, but in potential form; as dormant logic. And the only characteristic of logic was these components expressing, if we may say, the multiple potentials of energy. So we can say energy and logic in their potential form were coexistent; they existed as one. This state where energy and logic existed as one is a kind of a stable state of space which was always there, and in which motion and interaction did not arise from packets of energy but as a result of the following process. When the logically dormant pre-energy components in the different segments of this dimensionless (stable) space were impacted unevenly by the motion of time, then a kind of ‘unevenness’ would have emerged in this space. But we know that motion and unevenness alone is not sufficient to produce energy. There is a need for interactive motion and unevenness. So when these unevenly impacted components will come in contact with each other then there will be different angles of interconnection. This will produce tensions in the form of obstruction to the motion of some weaker and smaller segment of space and the components within it, which will reverse the direction of its motion. At this point a sort of resistance will emerge within that segment arising out of its ‘aversion’ to its direction being reversed. Which implies that there is an inherent ‘preference’ in it to proceed in its own direction. At this stage then dormant logic becomes active. The difference between dormant and active logic is when the logic process not only has motion and direction but also acquires the feature (or property) of ‘preference’ and ‘aversion’. This feature of logic adds another dimension to it. It no longer remains only interactive but that interactivity starts to grow and develop and becomes the mother of complexity. All kinds of permutations and combinations of impacts (between components of energy and time) and changes in direction arise which do not remain simple but become compound. Then arises a world of increasing complexity, which becomes an expanding playground for active logic.
This is the stage when this whole process of interconnections and interactivity in stable space would have produced energy (and simultaneously logic) in its most basic form, which could be the string state or maybe something more fundamental than that. This in turn would have produced the first weak packets of energy in the form of particles (like neutrinos or gravitons, etc.) and their quantum states. Then would have begun the interaction between these different energy packets, resulting in transformation of energy and birth of diverse varieties of energy with different properties. This in our view would be the first big bang before the one we know of. It is the increased activity in this period which would have led to the ‘known’ big bang and the subsequent process of evolution of energy and matter resulting in new, more complex and stable forms. diversity Complexity in our view actually occurs in result of resolving, and overcoming tensions and contradictions, in order to achieve harmonious motion and interaction. The aversion (or what we can call dislike) for contradiction in the very next step means a preference (or like) for un-obstructive or harmonious motion and interaction, which we propose and term as the Aesthetic of Nature. It is to achieve motion and interaction through harmony that phenomena become complex and acquire increasingly greater capabilities for interaction. Which is what we see in evolution, when it moves from less interactive energy forms like neutrinos, to more complex and highly interactive forms like quarks, gluons, then atoms and so on, with new and multiplying capabilities.
Once active logic and energy become a reality then we cannot go back to simplicity; it is logical to proceed towards complexity and increasing capabilities of interaction, a process fueled by the logical agenda of the Aesthetic of Nature to move towards harmonious interaction. Thus first we have the ‘aversion and preference’ process, which is responsible for the birth of active logic, and once it is firmly established then the final dimension of the aesthetic as a component of logic is added to it. Without that aesthetic the increasing interactions will only produce a multiplication of aversions and there would be no evolution. Because evolution of new and stable forms only becomes a fundamental feature of the Universal Logic Process when there is resolution of the contradiction between multiplying aversions and growing capabilities and achievement of some balance and stability. It is this process of resolving contradictions and moving towards dynamic harmony which is the ultimate objective of evolution in Nature.From the above detailed explanation we can discern five fundamental components of the Universal Logic Process, which we would like to briefly enumerate here. These are energy, motion, logic, the process of aversion (pain) and preference (pleasure) arising out of the properties or specifics of energy forms, and what we are calling evolution of forms. All these are inseparable and form one packet of fundamentals, which do not exist separately or in isolation. They constitute the origins, and reality of the Universal Logic Process. And the world that exists today both within and outside of ourselves is a product of the journey of this Logic Process through the interplay of its fundamentals.
The above elaborated stage of the Universal Logic Process, and its five fundamental components, before the emergence of living things, can be referred to as the random process stage, which is its pre-intelligence phase. There are three segments of this phase. Two of which are pre-big bang and the third is post-big bang. Part A is of stable space and dormant logic and energy potential, Part B of active logic and energy dynamic which culminates in the big bang. And Part C is after the big bang till the birth of living things.
Evolution of Universal Logic Process from the random to the programmed and then intelligent process stages from the journey of the Universal Logic Process in the random process stage one can clearly discern that it is in a dynamic state, which in reality is the dynamic of its evolution. In its journey this process goes through different states and levels, operating in many different ways, which also results in the evolution of its form. When the process of emerging new forms, their multiplying capabilities and interactions in the random process stage culminates in the birth of living things, the Universal Logic Process evolves its next form. It begins to operate through ‘programmed’ instead of ‘random’ motion and interaction. So the second form of the Universal Logic Process emerges with the evolution of the first unicellular, and then multicellular complex life forms, wherein begins the programmed process stage of its journey, which gradually becomes its dominant form. And also marks the opening of the intelligence-based phase of its journey. Where intelligence emerges as a new level of input in the logic process to resolve tensions and contradictions, now arising not only from the external environment of the form, but also from within it. Living forms evolve an internal ‘need’ (also a capability) as a new factor in the logic process, to preserve and stabilize the form. This need gradually takes the form of a programme operating in terms of ‘aversion’ (for tensions and contradictions), and ‘preference’ (for stability and harmony to preserve the form). And this in turn unleashes a whole process of evolving an enormous variety of programmes for all the various physiological functions and capabilities of the living form, and also mental functions and capabilities (perceptual, emotive or like dislike, execution, and problem solving) on the basis of which the living thing starts interacting with the outside world. This whole ensemble of needs, capabilities and programmes then becomes the subjective agenda of the biological form, driven primarily by the emotive programmes.
The rapidly growing physiological and mental programmes (with genetic roots) of living things as they move up the evolutionary ladder, become the hallmark of the ‘programmed’ process stage of logic. As the programmed process of life forms develops further, their problem solving capabilities, fueled by developing perceptual, emotive and execution processes, become more and more adept at resolving tensions and contradictions from the standpoint of the growing subjective agenda. Once the stage of higher animals is reached, and these problem solving capabilities start acquiring increased and more complex information, and evaluating and processing it through making multiple associations, and then creatively devising solutions, then they become ‘intelligence’. Which allows an intervention in the external environment on the basis of knowing; a process of identifying and discovering, at different levels, the logical process pertaining to an object, or situation/event which one is interacting with and wants to intervene in. So in this programmed stage the capability of ‘intelligence’ is also added to the hitherto unintelligent (random stage) logic process. The interesting point is that the intelligence capability, and also other mental programmes, functions and capabilities cannot be explained merely in terms of the biological and brain processes, or more precisely the post big bang heavier energy and matter forms that make up the biological process. In our view despite being produced by the biological and brain processes they essentially operate in terms of pre-big bang massless energy forms. And the mental function and capability of intelligence particularly employs a larger and more dynamic input of these forms. In the pre-big bang period these energy forms existed in a random state of motion and interaction, but with the evolution of programmed processes and the brain they were harnessed and organized to form mental functions and processes, which then evolved the capability of intelligence. So actually through these organized pre-big bang energy forms (in which logic and energy exist as a unity), it is the logic process that acquires the capability of intelligence-based interaction. But in this programmed process stage this intelligence in living things is ‘event-based’ intelligence, which focuses on acquiring intelligence about specific objects, aspects, events or situations of conflicts for their resolution in order to achieve a more harmonious state, and stability, but from the standpoint of the subjective agenda. At the animal stage this ‘event-based’ intelligence is an efficient process, enabling stability and harmony at a simpler level. However, in the case of human beings it starts producing more conflicts and contradictions instead of harmony. Because its highly developed capabilities of intervening in and making use of external phenomena begin to be employed by an expanding subjective agenda (which now includes motivations for power, wealth, superiority, etc.,) and from an adversarial standpoint. Conflicts and contradictions are further compounded by the capability of the event-based intelligence to produce ideas (due to the abstraction process possible with language) which subvert reality in many different ways due to a continuous inflow and domination of the subjective processes in the idea making process. That is why these ideas are primarily used for the purposes of the subjective agenda. Another factor which has added to conflicts and contradictions in human life is how the event-based intelligence has also been pulling in and trying to use a new breed of ideas produced by a completely new source and capability which emerged in the period of civilization, i.e., the intellect.
With the emergence of intellect as a distinct human capability commences the third form of logic or the stage of the ‘intelligent’ process, which is a post-programme process. This capability starts seeing and understanding phenomena beyond their subjective relevance. And begins to establish and develop a sophisticated system of becoming aware of the logic of external processes, which gradually starts to encompass the whole life of the individual, society and Nature. While the ‘event-based’ intelligence is concerned only with its subjective agenda and its immediate and short-term fulfillment. Our history shows how the ‘event-based’ intelligence has been pushing the intellectual process in the reverse direction so as to remain dominant. But it has not succeeded completely and the intellect has kept growing.
The current human stage at both the individual and social levels is one where the evolutionary transition of Logic from the ‘programmed’ to the ‘intelligent’ process stage is coming to a head. Particularly because our event-based intelligence is becoming more and more incapable of handling the growing conflicts and contradictions in human life. While its blatant (and sometimes covert) use of the intellect’s products for the subjective agenda is in fact becoming one of the largest contributors to the multiplication of these conflicts and also emergence of their new forms/varieties. Today we are on the threshold of a new period of this struggle where the balance of power can tilt in favor of the intellect, and we can move more rapidly towards evolving the ‘intelligent process’. The factors which are making this possible are, firstly, our own need for breaking out of the growing conflicts and contradictions within and outside of ourselves. Secondly, our growing capability for understanding the life process as a whole and ourselves as a part of it. Lastly and most importantly because of our increasing understanding of mental processes, which is going to be the key factor in bringing an evolutionary change in the intellect and its capability, enabling it to move towards evolving a ‘mature’ intelligent process. All the earlier stages of the intelligent process, after the inception of intellect, were only prototypes due to the absence of this factor.
The hallmark of the ‘intelligent process’ will be when it starts acquiring a truly holistic understanding of reality, including the mental processes along with a growing capability to intervene in the external as well as the internal world. This will enable it to begin the process of resolving conflicts and contradictions both in the individual and social dimensions. Eventually producing a new stage where both these dimensions will start getting more interconnected and new sets of tools (physical and mental), processes and capabilities (emotional and intellectual) will start emerging to interact with the rest of Nature.
The above process will only become a reality once the intelligent process (based on mature intellect and developed sensitivity processes) acquires the capability to transform or restructure the existing mental complex, (as it does with other external phenomena), in order to cope efficiently both with existing problems and the new growing dimensions of interactions. So the mind as a phenomenon will also not remain what it has been so far. Then the intelligent process based on the restructured mind will become the dominant reality driving the evolution of logic. After this will begin the stage of practical intervention of the intelligent process in the Universal Logic Process to resolve conflicts and contradictions in all its stages and dimensions and to move towards fulfilling the aesthetic agenda of logic (of moving from the dialectic of contradiction to the dialectic of harmony) which emerged with the random process stage. At the end we would like to recapitulate the entire journey of the Universal Logic Process, starting from the pre big bang up to now where it is in the process of evolving the intelligent process as its third form. We can see how the Logic Process in the pre-big bang era existed in a massless energy state having no intelligence or design but only logic. This was the pre-intelligence phase of logic, where evolution of energy and logic took place through random interaction and resolution of conflict and tensions. With the programmed process began the intelligence based phase of logic. Today this process has finally reached the stage where it has given birth to the intelligent process, which also operates in terms of the pre-big bang massless energy forms. But now unlike their pre-big bang state, these massless energy cum logic forms are becoming an organized process moving towards an all- encompassing ‘knowing’, together with a capability of applying this ‘knowing’ to avoid and eliminate existing conflicts and contradictions and move towards a higher state of harmony and happiness.
This tells us that in reality we are a part of this journey of the Universal Logic Process, and our mental processes are the playground where this struggle of the Universal Logic is being played to evolve its third form (the intelligent process), which will fulfill its logical agenda. It seems we are at a stage where the next stages of our own evolution as well as of the Universal Logic Process are coinciding, and becoming interconnected and dependent on each other.
Notes
i. Similarly in the words of Sean Carroll “…..just as we can successfully extrapolate the laws of physics from the present day back to the time of nucleosynthesis, we may also extrapolate these laws even further back, to construct a picture of what the very early universe may have been like.” (Retrieved from: http://preposterousuniverse.com/writings/cosmologyprimer/reallyearly.html).
ii. Which looks at the formation, interaction and evolution of matter and energy formations after the big bang.
iii. The problem and vision of unifying all forces, matter and physical laws under one theoretical framework which would explain all physical phenomena in the universe has been occupying physicists, starting from Einstein, for a long time now. In fact the antecedents of this problem go back to the Greeks and their attempts to try and find the fundamental causes, principles and constituents of Nature. Their speculations of ‘atoms’, of fundamental elements of Nature explaining all physical interactions and phenomena, reveal their preoccupation with finding the fundamental causes and constituents of Nature. In recent times this quest took the form of theoretical models and frameworks like the ‘Unified Field Theory’, ‘The Theory of Everything’ or ‘Grand Unified Theories’ and more recently the various versions of string theories (like Superstring Theory, etc.) and theories of quantum gravity. Although through these theoretical models and technological advancements in detection tools, a lot of progress has been made in this area but science is still not anywhere near the realization of this vision. Maybe physics and other connected scientific disciplines together with philosophy can come to a more holistic, tangible and workable understanding and explanation in this regard.
iv. These include theories like SuperSymmetry, String theory, Loop Quantum Gravity and the various cyclic cosmologies.
v. The position that math is an invention of the human mind and not some fixed, eternal and ethereal entity which exists independent of space, time and human consciousness is now gaining acceptance in many scientific circles. Please see the following article on this issue.(Retrievedfromhttp://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/10/science/useful-invention-or-absolute-truth-what-is-math.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm).
vi. In our view the only limitation on our inquiry can be of taking logical steps. And they do not need to be mathematical steps. We would like to proceed on the basis of a nonmathematical logical process because of being aware of the limitations of the mathematical logic process.
vii. Postulating this is a logical extension of what is already being explored in concepts like quantum foam, zero point energy, etc., wherein our known conceptions of space and time are no longer applicable. Even the concept of singularity at the time of the big bang highlights the same issue of known quantities and dimensions breaking down, and there being dimension less space and time. As Sean Carroll says “At the Big Bang, our knowledge of what happens gives out; the fact that physical quantities become infinite is a sign that we don't know what is going on. Presumably, in the real world there is no singularity; instead, something happens that cannot be describedbyphysics as we currently understand it”:http://preposterousuniverse.com/writings/cosmologyprimer/reallyearly.html). Thus in order to make sense of this conundrum we would like to propose extrapolating these concepts backward to the earliest stages of the pre-big bang epoch, where logically there would be space and time without any dimensions.
viii. Through mathematical formulas and equations, which has been limiting our inquiry.
ix. ‘Space Simpliciter’ in our view is neither an object nor energy, and in fact it does not exist as a separate identity. The whole problem of conceiving ‘space’ is that we want to a priori create a geometry or dimension of space. The reason being we have difficulty grasping infinity. Since we have an intellectual problem with the concept of infinity so we resolve it by coming up with this object and dimension related finite space. Whereas the question is that why should we only conceive of there being a dimension or geometry to space? It simply does not exist. If we were to take a look at this situation externally we would see two kinds of spaces. One is psychological space in which we have a psychological problem due to the functioning of our intellects. Since we have coined the term space so we want to give it a dimension, and a geometry. And we want to do this because our perceptual senses are bound to and limited by the existence of objects. And since it is an experience shared universally by all human beings so we want to extend it beyond our perceptual processes and attribute it to the whole of Nature apart from us. Which is an illogicality. So this is psychological space. The other kind of space is functional space, which is a relationship between objects. There we are not actually talking of space but of objects and the relationship between them. Hence in this case space (and also time) really means distance. So what we actually call ‘space’ today is a figment of our imagination which basically exists in the form of these two kinds of spaces. In reality space does not exist separately nor is there any real problem of space.
x. Since motion in this space would be oscillating motion of its different parts and not linear motion from one point to another hence the familiar notion of time will not apply there.
xi. Since pre-big bang cosmologies also propose the existence of time in terms of the events which led to the big bang, so unless there is reason for time to have ceased to exist, it must have continued to exist in the past. If a thing is logically known to be in existence then we will have to prove either through reason or observation when it ceased to exist. Hence we will have to rationally presume that it existed, and was in motion by a measure not known to us.