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Rev

I like the local vs global idea and Kant's view on this as an unresolvable truth (either a or not a but we cannot decide a). If everything literally started at T=0 (so there is a beginning) but there is no "further back" (time stops) and we take this as a brute fact, backed by the reasoning that there is no world where T<0 exists (necessarily) [at least the ordinary/phenomenological time T]), then couldn't we say the world is eternal (exists for all time) and was also the first "local cause" (per your local question)?
– Annika
Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 19:55
1

@Annika Big Bang is a limit point in the mathematical sense and a proper singularity of the standard cosmological model with inflation. The theory is silent about nature at the singularity. Hence the expression “T<0” is an undefined notion like asking: What is less than “minus infinity”? - That the world is eternal without beginning means “If we could measure time with physical clocks, an infinite amount of time has passed until today”. And that’s different from considering Big Bang as a limit point: The limit point is reached after about 13.6 billions of years when going back in time.
– Jo Wehler
Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 20:30
1

@Annika I am not sure that we use the terms local and global above in the same sense. Smolin in his lecture about his book referenced by NilsNielsen in his answer of the OP's question emphasizes: In the global case of the universe we cannot change the initial conditions and run the experiment again and again. That's different in the local context which happens over and over again.
– Jo Wehler
Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 21:01
Thanks for clarifying— limit point makes sense to me!
– Annika
Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 21:07

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