Cosmology in crisis

Problems with the Big Bang's credibility

Can we rely on our cosmological picture of the universe, or might we have got it all wrong? Although complicated math seems to support theories like dark matter and dark energy, we should be ready to interrogate the reasoning behind them, writes Bjørn Ekeberg. 

"It is not anti-scientific to question established beliefs, but central to science itself. At the creative heart of science is a spirit of open-minded inquiry," writes Rupert Sheldrake in The Science Delusion.

It's hard to imagine a scientific subject matter that would call for more open-mindedness than the ambitious project of understanding the entire cosmos from our own extremely limited standpoint within it.

20 08 7.Scienceheader SUGGESTED READING Cutting edge science at HowTheLightGetsIn Global By And yet few scientific fields are more established in their core beliefs than cosmology. Since the late 1960s, most scientists have settled on a 'standard cosmology' as the only serious and viable research program in astrophysics. Its fundamentals are considered facts and rarely, if ever, questioned in public. The Big Bang story is entrenched as the most scientific world-picture we have.

Its proponents may be tempted to take this remarkable conformity as proof the theory rests on a solid foundation. But there are many reasons to be skeptical both of this claim, and the conviction with which it is often posited.

When the problem is particularly hard, people tend to follow the crowd and not to question authority.

In the spirit of scientific self-questioning, I'd like to briefly outline 8 potential problem areas for the credibility of the ruling theory.

Think of it as a guide to a 'stress test' of cosmology: these are dimensions where the theory looks particularly weak or unconvincing from a critical perspective and where it could easily face more serious scrutiny than from a lonesome philosopher of science.

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