I am not looking for an answer. I just suspect the answer is "It's not currently known." And that's fine. By definition, the answer is probably unknowable. But that event did occur, and everything you see around you is a result of it.

I must respectfully disagree with regard to the role of the question "Why?" in the scientific method. "Why" is very much a core part of science. Science almost always begins with the question of "Why?"

Why is the sky blue? Why does an apple drop to the Earth? Why doesn't the movement of the Earth through the Ether deflect light? Why is there a spike in the cosmic microwave background radiation 2.725 Kelvin? Why are the laws of physics the way they are, instead of some completely different set of laws?

Most importantly, what caused the universe expand rapidly from a single point? What was that event? This is the question I've posed.

So far I've seen three answers:

>>1. The math stops giving us answers that seem physical.

>>2. That question can't be answered because it happened before the existence of the universe.

>>3. That's not science because it's not falsifiable.

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To answer each of these in turn:

1. Math is not divine. (Gasp!)

It is merely a human tool for the communication of ideas.

"The math breaks down" usually means one of three things:

>>a. It would be far easier to explain this with a more precise and efficient language for communicating these ideas. Can we switch to mathematics to discuss?

>>b. The mathematics makes sense logically, and renders sound predictions, but doesn't correspond to any human experience of the physical world, so it can't be explained.

>>c. I don't know, but that's what my [teacher, professor, Feynman's ghost] told me.

In the case of (a.), sure, no problem. We're a fairly mathematical bunch around here. With regard to (b.), let's say I was constructing a theory of the universe in very precise German. Then one day, my German model started giving descriptions that didn't seem physical, I would assume the bug was in my German. If your mathematics stop giving answers that seem physical, maybe it's the math that's off, not the universe.

So the question remains: what caused the universe to expand to its current size from a single point? What was that event? If you can't answer, or believe the answer to be extant but unknowable, then we're back to square one.

2. Math is hard, and while not all of us are Physics PhDs, this isn't exactly a lay audience either, so do your best to explain in English.

Physicists use analogies all the time. Einstein was famous for his thought experiments, which communicated tremendously complex ideas with analogies so simple and elegant that someone with less than a secondary school education could grasp them.

Einstein even wrote Relativity: The Special and General Theory as a "popular" science text, so that as many scientists in as many fields as possible could understand the implications of his theories.

As has often been said on HN, "if you can't explain it, you probably don't really understand it."

3. What is your evidence that all possible hypotheses about the cause of the expansion of the universal singularity cannot be falsified?

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It seems to me that you want to have an existential fight over the meaning of life, wherein mighty Physics slays the godly believer in the name of truth, justice, and the scientific method.

All I want is an answer to a single simple physical question: What caused this singularity to suddenly expand?