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Originally Posted by GameMaster
Could you elaborate on the 'something' that sparked the big bang?
That's what I find to be the most fascinating aspect. That the 'something' that occurred by chance (or perhaps not) is responsible for all that is now.
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The quick answer? The universe was created from random fluctutations. Matter and energy exist because nothingness is inherently unstable. The reason there is something rather than nothing is because nothingness is a physical impossibility. Or you could say that nothing is something in and of itself. Mathematically you take zero, which represents nothing, and make it a single element of a set which then ends up being equal to one. So S{0} = 1 and presto! We've just made something from nothing. Isn't that cute?
Theoretically there are "micro bangs" which occur in nature all the time as a result of random fluctuations. The vast majority of these bangs do not have the characteristics necessary for forming a full-fledged universe capable of supporting life. Our universe may seem unique and special, and it would be if it were the only possible universe, however statistically speaking the creation of a universe such as ours is an eventual certainty.
People ask where all the energy came from, but in a sense it doesn't really exist in the first place. If you add up all the positive and negative energy in the universe you end up with a big fat zero. Essentially we are all living on borrowed energy.
While physics does not need God to explain the creation of the universe or anything in it, I believe there is still hope arising from the theory that information(consciousness too, if you will), like energy, cannot be destroyed. Rather it can only change form and evolve. Physicists are increasingly viewing the universe in terms of information (1's and 0's) with matter and energy as incidental constructs.