quote:
Originally posted by CookieRevised
Don't see the big bang as something massive happening. Big Bang essentially means creating something out of nothing.
That is what Dan Brown's
Angel and Demons says but I read once in a book by Stephen Hawking that the prior to the big bang, we can't say what was happening to the universe and either way it doesn't make a difference since whatever happened
before it would in no was effect the process/outcome/end result after the big bang.
All we know (or may be just I know because the book is obviously a few years old
) is that the big bang was created by a singularity. All the mass of the universe was concentrated at one point (there is evidence to support this).
So yes, we did have something before the big bang. Even in Dan Brown's book, his definition of something out of nothing is 2 particles colliding to give you some antimatter however you did need those 2 particles, didn't you?
That book has a lot of holes since its not a scientific book but the machine that CERN possess in that book is quite similar (but a bit bigger) than the one we have here.
Basically my point is that you need
something initially to create "something out of nothing" though I'm pretty sure that the "something" created can be explained in a few ways. I have a few ideas but without all the data at hand, it isn't right to guess
/ 
