Phil Halper, Priya Natarajan and Joseph Silk use the Big Bang Theory to discuss whether science can ever escape the beliefs and biases of its scientists.
Is it possible to escape personal bias and reach objective truth?
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We think of our accounts of the universe and cosmology as well-founded and value-free. The Big Bang theory is surely one of those. But critics argue this is not the case. It was first put forward by a Catholic priest and physicist, Georges Lemaître, who initially called it the 'hypothesis of the primeval atom' — the primeval atom being created by God. As the originator of cosmic inflation theory, Alan Guth, points out the Big Bang “says nothing about what banged, why it banged, or what happened before it banged." Increasingly, critics claim, there are challenges to the theory as the religious origins and miraculous character of the Big Bang result in ever more convoluted explanations to account for our observations.

Should the fact the Big Bang was proposed by a religious thinker lead us to question its validity? Will the future be one where we see all ideas, even scientific, as motivated by the perspective of the author? Or is it possible to escape personal bias, and reach objective truth?
#bigbang #religion #science
Phil Halper is a science communicator and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. His recent book, Battle of the Big Bang, explores alternative theories of the universe’s birth, especially those often dismissed for challenging established cosmological ideas.
Joseph Silk is a cosmologist and the Savilian Professor of Astronomy Emeritus at the University of Oxford, whose work investigates the early universe, dark matter, and galaxy formation.
Priya Natarajan is a Professor of Astrophysics at Yale University and was named as one of Time Magazine's top 100 most influential people in 2024 for her groundbreaking work in the field.
Hilary Lawson hosts.
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