> I didn't know that. Now I'm more confused than ever.
Yes, but you are confused on a higher plane... :-)
> <<Quantum Mechanics has modified the law of conservation of mass energy, it is
> passable to borrow mass energy from nothing, but you must pay it back, and
> the more you borrow the shorter you can keep it.>>
>
> OOoooookaaaaaay...
>
> It seems to me that youre saying the big bang COULDN'T have happened then.
> Since if all the mass in the universe came from nothing then it couldn't stay
> around very long.
Actually, it is not obvious that this is true; the uncertainty
relations only hold *in* the universe, the universe itself may or may
not behave similarly. The "universe from quantum fluctuation" model is
interesting but right now rather vague. The problem is of course that
we are trying to apply a theory outside its range of application.
> However....if one proton at a time "virtualize" out of the quantum
> foam...then they could stay around for a VERY long time. Which is
> my understanding of Lerner's thesis.
The energy has to be taken from somewhere. This is the reason black
holes evaporate, they make electrons and positrons appear permanently
and the energy has to be taken from somewhere, in this care the black
hole.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y