jimbo;674949 wrote: Why isn't the answer to "before the big bang" question "some sort of an out-of-equilibrium system " (a disequilibrium state, for short)?
Probably because that makes no sense as written.

Sorry, no offense intended, but you have to clarify that statement. The current universe is an 'out of equilibrium system'. When it reaches equilibrium, one way or the other, all life will cease to exist.
there could have been something before...like, dare i say, other universes? but thats not even science thats pure speculation and to us they might as well not even exist because they are in no way connected with our universe? do you agree self Adjoint?
That's absolutely correct. If there were preceding universes, or multiple co-existing ones, they would have no correlation to ours. Time there could pass billions of times faster or slower in relation to physical processes than it does here, but it doesn't matter because our time is entirely dependent upon the conditions in this universe.
consecutive measurements by the observer are more effective in marking physical change than tallying time alone.
Thanks for the translation, Loren. I've had (surprise, surprise) more than a couple of beers, and couldn't make heads nor tails of your first post. Reduced to a common-sense statement like this, it's perfectly agreeable.
YEAH. RIGHT.
Once upon a time there was an after with no 'before'.
Do you realize how silly that is?
Not half as silly as supposing that some supernatural being created it all. As a counter argument, how could there be a 'before' without an 'after'?
:D:D:-6 now do you see what i mean
Oh I do, but these people are just unable to undertand that time as a physical parameter, and the "time" that we percieve ub our minds are not completely the same thing, (its all a bit of mystery to be honest, i.e. we don't understand everything, which is as it should be). But thats why human understanding of these things tends to break down at a certain point, its of course impossible for us to imagine a situation where there is no time, its just outside of our understanding, but thats our limitation, not reality's. You see all of this stuff is why, in high end physics, its safer to stick to maths rather than using alegorys to describe things that don't relate to any of our normal experiences. I know that sounds maddeningly reasonable, still.