"Joel Rosenberg - Hidden Ways 3" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rosenberg Joel C)

when and how did it get converted to energyтАФand why haven't we picked up the traces of such a process? If the steady state
theory is correct, how does the necessary mass reassemble itself?" asks Coleman. "If it isn't true, then what happened before the
big bang?"

"That's a meaningless question, scientifically," Rice interjects. "But if the evidence states the big bang was a singular event that
will not be repeated, how many alternative studies can we con the taxpayer into funding?"

Coleman admits that some of the hypotheses suggested to shore up the steady state model are "pretty far-out"тАФranging

from new types of interference that block the effects of gravity to pocket universes straight out of sci-fi novels.

"Or maybe the cat knocked it under the couch," jokes Rice. "We're talking enormous amounts of lost matter hereтАФ at least four
times all the measurable matter in the universe!тАФnot some little key chain doodad you can leave lying around someplace and
forget!"

The Reverend Georges Friedmann, who holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cal Tech, as well as a Master of Divinity from Pacific
Lutheran Theological Seminary, and who teaches two classes in astronomy each semester at Macalester in addition to his duties as
associate pastor at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, finds the controversy both fascinating and amusing. "If the
universe is open, and proceeds from a beginning, I think the religious implications are obvious," he says, smiling smugly. "If you
find my smile smug, you have gotten my point."

"Well, maybe you should have your Jehovah check his pockets," answers Coleman. "The fact is, we won't know what happened to
it until we look further. And, not having

certain funding advantagesтАФ" Debates may end in rancor, but the question remains: If the steady staters are right, and the
universe is an uncreated, self-regulating series of big bangs and big crunches, then where's the missing mass?

Whoever borrowed that extra matter had better put it back, according to Rice, or the steady staters are going to be "very, very
unhappy." Rice waggles an admonitory finger. ""And very, very embarrassed, when study after study shows

the same result: the universe is open."

Friedmann is more conciliatory. "It's long been a fundamental cornerstone of science that the existence of an extra-normal Creator
is untestable, and as a scientist, I have to say that it still is. But as a man of God, I'm not entirely displeased that the cornerstone
seems to be crumbling just a little."

Professor Coleman declined comment.




PROLOGUE


The Faerie Ring

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