An honest answer for a newbie, please.

If you read the new book the universe in a nutshell you will hear the latest idea as to what was around before the big bang. It has to do with the fact that there are more than the 3 dimensions that we see. There are 11 dimensions to the world; just we don’t see them all as we do the three spatial ones. The theory says that the explosion that created our universe might have happened inside one of the other 7 dimensions that are outside our own. And this other dimension is thought to be infinitely large. I hope this has answered your question. This would also allow the laws of physics to exist before out universe was created. This is the same idea as I posted before about the brane worlds.[This message has been edited by steppjr, 09-04-2002]

Well Stephen Hawking wrote the book and it was published last year. I know there are papers on the subject but they are very technical and most would not understand. The book puts it in a easy light to read and understand so that is why I quoted it.

So true! Lets just hope that they get some before long! I really liked the way it talks about how black holes are probably the only thing that can connect the brane worlds. This fits very nicely with the new quantum brain theory. The theory stated that every time a memory or a thought happens a virtual black hole is formed in the brain. And if this other dimension were infinitely large, that would account for the infinitely large memory capacity of our brains. It juts all fits together a little too well to be a mishap.