If we are to believe uncle Albert (and why should we not?) then there is no such thing as simultaneity. Every event occurs in a relativistic context. In physics. Cosmologists seem to put a different spin on matters (and yes, I do crack myself up). They define a “rest state” relative to the Cosmic Microwave Background, a state that permits measurement of the uniform rate that the universe is expanding in all directions, and why we perceive all the other galaxies hurrying away from us as if we were the only garlic eaters on this bus.
Physicists and cosmologists alike are chary about discussing what happened at the moment of the big bang, and indeed what happened in the flash of time that preceded the moment of Planck density, a finite and describable event comprising incomprehensibly vast amounts of matter compressed into a ridiculously small space. Prior to that moment, there was–I guess–a period of unreality, when all time, mass, energy, and antimatter were balanced in a singularity the destruction of which precipitated a big bang that emerged into our reality an absurdly short time after it actually began. Those moments of singularity and displacement that preceded a physical universe with a density of 5.1 × 1096 kg/m³ are the moments where we can sort out just what it is all about. If we can hurdle the barrier of incomprehension, the limit of our understanding framed by physicists and astronomers, and vault into the realm of poets, tango dancers, and doowop singers… only then will we be able to master this matter/antimatter thing.
Will confirmation of the existence of the Higgs boson help us get there? You decide, but read this first!
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