>Here's what I don't 'get'...
>
>If the big bang happened 15 billion years ago and they are seeing light that is 14 billion years ago, shouldn't they expect to see MORE things there (rather than less) simply because 14 billion years ago things were far more compressed than they are now (compressed in the sense that 14 billion years ago is far far CLOSER to the CENTRE of the big bang and so things were all much closer together).
>
>Also, based on the trajectories of some of these expanding bodies, shouldn't they be able to zero in directly on the big bang itself?
>
>I think I must be missing something in this logic. What is it?

Hi Jim,
That was a great show!

Yeah, this stuff is difficult to wrap ones head around sometimes. Lemme give it my best shot based on info I've found in some Brian Swimme videos I have that are named "Canticle to the Cosmos".
1) The expression "big bang" is misleading. It is from a mechanistic view of the universe. Instead, it is more like a hatching egg or a flaring forth of energy.

Besides, wouldn't the "big bang" metaphor would mean you & I are just shrapnel? :-)

2) The expression "expanding universe" is also misleading and from a mechanistic view. It is more like a "developing universe."

So, things were not "more compressed" at a previous time, they were just less developed.

3) Likewise, it is of a mechisitic paradigm when we say "laws of physics". They are more like "habits" and mutable.

4) The universe does not expand/develop into a pre-existing space. The unfurling of space AND time allow/enable the expanding/developing. It's 10 to the 40th rate at which this happens was instumental to the formation of atomict stucture and galaxies and whatever is next.

5) The universe acts as a whole. It is the only 'text' without a 'context'. IOW, you can't step away to watch it or assume the perspective of a point in time outside of it. Such a place and time do not exist.

6) Because the universe acts as a whole, it can be described as 'omnicentric.' The center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere.

7) All states are unique within the space-time continuum. IOW, this is it!

Well that is just a brief. There's a LOT to discuss once the universe become the topic! ;-)

Steven-
P.S. Concerning the unfolding of the space-time continuum, I just recalled a comedian's bit that is actually pretty sublime in its accuracy:
Why does space exist?
To keep everything from trying to fit in the same place.
Why does time exist?
To keep everything from happening at once.