[...]

At the "peach epoch," the universe was only a tiny fraction of a second old. In fact, it was even tinier than a tiny fraction — 10^-36 seconds old, or thereabouts. From there on out, we have a roughly decent picture of how the universe works. Some questions are still open, of course, but in general, we have at least a vague understanding.

The further along in age the universe gets, the more clear our picture becomes, but it's almost frightening to consider that our poor monkey brains are even contemplating such early epochs in the universe.

At even earlier times, though, our understanding of the universe gets … fuzzy. The forces, energies, densities and temperatures become too high, and the knowledge of physics we've cobbled together over the centuries just isn't up to the task. In the extremely early universe gravity starts to get very important at small scales, and this is the realm of quantum gravity, the yet-to-be-solved grand riddle of modern physics. We just flat-out don't have an understanding of strong gravity at small scales.

We. Just. Don't.

Earlier than 10^-36 seconds, we simply don't understand the nature of the universe. The Big Bang theory is fantastic at describing everything after that, but before it, we're a bit lost. Get this: At small enough scales, we don't even know if the word "before" even makes sense! At incredibly tiny scales (and I'm talking tinier than the tiniest thing you could possible imagine), the quantum nature of reality rears its ugly head at full strength, rendering our neat, orderly, friendly spacetime into a broken jungle gym of loops and tangles and rusty spikes. Notions of intervals in time or space don't really apply at those scales. Who knows what's going on?

There are, of course, some ideas out there — models that attempt to describe what "ignited" or "seeded" the Big Bang, but at this stage, they're pure speculation. If these ideas can provide observational clues — for example, a special imprint on the CMB, then hooray — we can do science!

If not, they're just bedtime stories.

Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's see freedom, let's see who cares,
Take me with you when you leave me
And my shell behind us there.

I have learned it, known who burned me,
Avatar has warmed my feet,
Take me with you, let me see you,
Time and life can meet.

Nothing is everything, everything is, nothing is,
Please the people, audiences,
Break the fences,
Nothing is.

Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's see freedom up in the air,
Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's be free, let's see who cares.
Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's see freedom up in the air,
Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's be free, let's see who cares.

Give me a drink boy, wash my feet,
I'm so tired of running from my own heat,
Take this package and here's what you do,
Gonna get this information through.

I don't know where I'm going,
I don't know what I need,
But I'll get to where I'm gonna end up,
And that's alright by me.

Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's see freedom up the air,
Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's be free, let's see who cares.
Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's see freedom in the air,
Let's see action, let's see people,
Let's be free, let's see who cares.
Nothing is everything, everything is nothing.