One key challenge for inflation is the singularity problem. If inflation is realized by the dynamics of scalar matter fields coupled to Einstein gravity, then the HawkingPenrose singularity theorems [7] can be extended [8] to show that an inflationary universe is geodesically past incomplete. Thus, there necessarily is a singularity before the onset of inflation. Hence, the inflationary scenario cannot yield the complete history of the very early universe. A bouncing cosmological scenario naturally avoids this singularity problem, although at the cost of having to introduce new physics to obtain the bounce
Recent results from the Planck satellite combined with earlier observations from WMAP, ACT, SPT and other experiments eliminate a wide spectrum of more complex inflationary models and favor models with a single scalar field, as reported by the Planck Collaboration. More important, though, is that all the simplest inflaton models are disfavored statistically relative to those with plateau-like potentials. We discuss how a restriction to plateau-like models has three independent serious drawbacks: it exacerbates both the initial conditions problem and the multiverse-unpredictability problem and it creates a new difficulty that we call the inflationary "unlikeliness problem." Finally, we comment on problems reconciling inflation with a standard model Higgs, as suggested by recent LHC results. In sum, we find that recent experimental data disfavors all the best-motivated inflationary scenarios and introduces new, serious difficulties that cut to the core of the inflationary paradigm. Forthcoming searches for B-modes, non-Gaussianity and new particles should be decisive.
とりあえず問題の辻褄を合わせるために一時的に作られたのがマルチバース理論なわけだ 空想物理学（"all structures that exist mathematically exist also physically"）は現代版エーテルに過ぎず否定されるのは時間の問題だろう
観測できないエーテルにすべて説明を投げてそれで開き直るわけだが、それでは真実から遠ざかるだけだろう
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_constant_problem In cosmology, the cosmological constant problem or vacuum catastrophe is the disagreement between the observed values of vacuum energy density (the small value of the cosmological constant) and theoretical large value of zero-point energy suggested by quantum field theory.
Depending on the Planck energy cutoff and other factors, the discrepancy is as high as 120 orders of magnitude, [1] a state of affairs described by physicists as "the largest discrepancy between theory and experiment in all of science"[1] and "the worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics."[2]
https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.01740 Apparent evidence for Hawking points in the CMB Sky Daniel An, Krzysztof A. Meissner, Roger Penrose (Submitted on 6 Aug 2018) This paper presents powerful observational evidence of anomalous individual points in the very early universe that appear to be sources of vast amounts of energy, revealed as specific signals found in the CMB sky. Though seemingly problematic for cosmic inflation, the existence of such anomalous points is an implication of conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC), as what could be the Hawking points of the theory, these being the effects of the final Hawking evaporation of supermassive black holes in the aeon prior to ours. Although of extremely low temperature at emission, in CCC this radiation is enormously concentrated by the conformal compression of the entire future of the black hole, resulting in a single point at the crossover into our current aeon, with the emission of vast numbers of particles, whose effects we appear to be seeing as the observed anomalous points. Remarkably, the B-mode location found by BICEP 2 is at one of these anomalous points.
ペンローズ博士の共形サイクリック宇宙論によれば、宇宙のはじまりと終わりは時間 も空間も感じないの「永遠」の世界だという。博士はラテン語の「永遠」にちなんで この宇宙周期を「aeon」と名付けた。 某大手ショッピングセンターの名前がこの「aeon」 にちなんでいるのなら、そのネーミングセンスに感動する。 @Back to the past
Augustine of Hippo in his City of God writes "God is called omnipotent on account of His doing what He wills" and thus proposes the definition that "Y is omnipotent" means "If Y wishes to do X then Y can and does do X".
この定義においては人間でさえも偶然に全能な力を発揮することもあり得る
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox However, it is possible for non-omnipotent beings to compromise their own powers, which presents the paradox that non-omnipotent beings can do something (to themselves) which an essentially omnipotent being cannot do (to itself). This was essentially the position Augustine of Hippo took in his The City of God:
For He is called omnipotent on account of His doing what He wills, not on account of His suffering what He wills not; for if that should befall Him, He would by no means be omnipotent. Wherefore, He cannot do some things for the very reason that He is omnipotent.（神の国、アウグスティヌス）
アウグスティヌス In matters that are obscure and far beyond our vision, even in such as we may find treated in Holy Scripture, different Interpretations are sometimes possible without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such a case, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search of truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it. That would be to battle not for the teaching of Holy Scripture but for our own, wishing its teaching to conform to ours, whereas we ought to wish ours to conform to that of Sacred Scripture. – Genesi Ad Litteram
アウグスティヌス I have learned to yield this respect and honour only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error. And if in these writings I am perplexed by anything which appears to me opposed to truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the [manuscript] is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 1:350)
New research published late last year by scholars at Harvard University and Indiana University Bloomington is just the latest to reveal the myth. This research questioned the “secularization thesis,” which holds that the United States is following most advanced industrial nations in the death of their once vibrant faith culture. Churches becoming mere landmarks, dance halls, boutique hotels, museums, and all that.
Not only did their examination find no support for this secularization in terms of actual practice and belief, the researchers proclaim that religion continues to enjoy “persistent and exceptional intensity” in America. These researchers hold our nation “remains an exceptional outlier and potential counter example to the secularization thesis.”
Christian population growth is the population growth of the global Christian community. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.19 billion Christians around the world in 2010, more than three times as much from the 600 million recorded in 1910, however this rate of growth is slower than the overall population growth over the same time period.[1] According to a 2015 Pew Research Center study, by 2050, the Christian population is expected to be 3.0 billion.[2]
From 1960 to 2000, the global growth of the number of reported Evangelical Protestants grew three times the world's population rate, and twice that of Islam.[3]
As an example, the study showed that in 1991, 37 percent of Russian and 39 percent of Ukrainian identified as Orthodox, respectively. However, in 2015, that percentage almost doubled in both cases to 71 percent of Russians and 78 percent of Ukrainians.
Though Christianity has bloomed following the fall of the Soviet Union, nowadays it is Christians in Communist China who are heavily targeted by the atheistic regime.
Being Christian in Western Europe The majority of Europe’s Christians are non-practicing, but they differ from religiously unaffiliated people in their views on God, attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants, and opinions about religion’s role in society http://www.pewforum.org/2018/05/29/being-christian-in-western-europe/
