Bear's Journey

The Game of Prediction

The experts like to boast about their predictions. They point to the ratios of hydrogen, helium, and lithium in the universe. They say that their Big Bang model predicted these ratios long before they were measured. They claim this as proof that their story of an expanding universe must be true.

What they do not say is that equations by themselves can describe the same ratios without the story. The math is powerful, yet the math does not speak of explosions or stretching space. The math only describes how matter and energy behave under certain conditions. Accurate arithmetic does not mean the attached fantasy is accurate as well. Numbers confirm numbers, not tales.

Imagine a carpenter who measures a board and finds it to be twenty nine centimeters long. His ruler is correct, yet this does not prove that the board was once part of a giant tree struck down by lightning in a thunderstorm. His ruler only proves the present length of the board. The same holds true with these scientific predictions. Equations that match reality are rulers. They do not prove the myths told about the origin of the universe.

The game of prediction is simple. Experts wrap equations in a tale and then pretend that when the numbers add up, the tale has been proven as well. This is not honesty. This is showmanship. The math deserves respect, yet the myths deserve none. The difference between the two must be kept clear or confusion will always rule.