316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper

<p>Einstein's general theory of relativity, plus some reasonable assumptions about the universe and what it's made of, has a remarkable implication: that as we trace cosmic evolution into the far past, we ultimately hit a singularity of infinite density and curvature, the Big Bang. Did that really happen? Einstein's theory is classical, after all, and the world is quantum. And whose to say what assumptions are reasonable? Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper have written a new book, <a href="https://nafshordi.com/2024/10/19/battle-of-the-big-bang-new-tales-of-our-cosmic-origins/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins</em></a>, that surveys all of the mind-bending possibilities.</p> <p>Blog post with transcript: <a href="https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/26/316-niayesh-afshordi-and-phil-halper-on-the-big-bang-and-before/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/26/316-niayesh-afshordi-and-phil-halper-on-the-big-bang-and-before/</a></p> <p><em>Support Mindscape on </em><a href="https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Patreon</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p>Niayesh Afshordi received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Princeton University. He is currently a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Waterloo, and associate faculty in the cosmology and gravitation group at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://nafshordi.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Web site</a></li> <li><a href="https://perimeterinstitute.ca/people/niayesh-afshordi" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Perimeter web page</a></li> <li><a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/physics-astronomy/profile/nafshord" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Waterloo web page</a></li> <li><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xWZGFlEAAAAJ&amp;hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Google scholar publications</a></li> </ul> <p><br /></p> <p>Phil Halper is a science communicator and a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. His astronomy images have been featured in major media outlets including <em>The Washington Post</em>, the BBC, and <em>The Guardian</em>, and he has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals.</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@PhilHalper1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YouTube channel (Skydivephil)</a></li> </ul>