DAVID: All sort of theories, but Vilenkin says it MUST have a beginning: > > http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628932.000-before-the-big-bang-something-or-not... I'm sorry, but for me all this is pure speculation, there is and will probably never be a consensus, and I challenge anyone to provide proof that the universe has not been around forever, regardless of how many bubbles it might have blown and burst.-No one has denied Vilenkin's math! Somewhere in the past there was a beginning. This universe had beginning in the Big Bang. What was 'before' the Big Bang caused the Big Bang. Therefore, I disagree strongly with your statement.