From our perceptual POV the universe has no limit since we are confined to the universe there would never be a way of reaching the limit universe to determine what that is so for us there is no limit. Another poster had wondered about nothingness. I think recent physics is indicating that everything we percieve as matter is actually nothingness. As the theoretically the quarks that make up matter are actually fluctuations of the vacuum field. Since matter and energy are the same then theoretically energy is nothingness also.
This is something that I've pondered also but the conclusion I can come best come up with is that there is no difference between life and death except for perception. Other than the capacity to note and react to change from moment to moment we aren't any different than a rock. So we only exist in a singular moment of perception that is cabable of recalling the previous moments of perception. If that is the case then what happened to where we were in the previous moment? Is the you that was alive a second ago now dead?
Yes, If you fly far enough you finally reach a brick wall with a sign that reads: "That's all for now, still resting." God
I'd argue this for a couple reasons. If you were in a small, inpenetrable room with no exits, you would be completely confined to that space. Just because you are confined to that space doesn't make you incapable of reaching its limits. If we're speaking technologically, then yes, there's no way for us to even begin to consider attempting find the end of the universe at the moment. But it's not to say that technology couldn't eventually advance to that point. That and just because something is your only possible point of view doesn't mean that's it's the only possible scenario.
I honestly thought someone was asking if there was a cap limit on U-verse or something, so I never peeked inside this thread. Interesting talk though, theoretical physics is a fun subject.
It's an interesting question that even the best physicists get confused about. I mean A Brief History of Time was written by the Stephen Hawking, the smartest guy in the world, and then a few years later he said he was wrong! I believe the prevailing theory right now is that the universe will continue to expand forever meaning there is no actual limit to the universe...but who knows in a few years that theory may be reversed again.
Let's say that there is a one in a million chance that there is another Earth just like our Earth out there. But if we assume that the Universe in infinite in size, then all possibilites are real, no matter how small the chances are. Because infinity >>> million, or any other large number. However, another poster, Azadre I think, was saying that the existance of us/life on this Earth is only one of the infinite many possible solutions to the entropy of the Universe. He was saying that no matter how large the Universe is, there would not be an exact copy of us out there, because there is only one distinct solution for everything. In other words you cannot put odds on there being another Earth. The odds are one in an infinity. I think that's what he meant. This is similar to the idea of Creationism. That is the reason we exist on this Earth is because we were created out of a thought, not by pure chance. But I'm not really big on spritual things so I don't know...
I thought it was something about quantum mechanics and how for every molecule that spins one direction, there's the possibility that it would spin the other way.
i know only that i've heard it said that there are millions of little "dials" (that's the metaphor i've seen used) for all sorts of things that if tweaked the tiniest, teensiest bit one way or the other, there's no life on this planet as we understand life....and that if even one of those millions of little "dials" is off, there's not life as we understand life, despite the fact all of the rest of them are tuned in just right. some of these dials aren't merely planet issues, but are universe issues...like if the strong nuclear force is decreased by 1 part in 10 thousand billion, the whole universe is hydrogen....some see order and/or design in that. others see mere chance. dials are things like: 1. force of gravity 2. strong nuclear force 3. cosmological constant 4. degree of tilt to earth's axis (note that the earth is the only planet we are aware of that tilts on its axis) 5. earth's position, size and speed And in typical jesus freak fasion, i'll share this <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cksKWREnDiw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cksKWREnDiw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Not quite. I was saying that there are infinite universes that will be different as well as infinite universes that will be the same. Just remember this is the assumption based on the universe being infinite (which it most likely isn't).
Oh...please! There's nothing beyond the universe...unless you count the emptiness of a void where nothing can exist something.
aren't they trying to prove that there are different dimensions by colliding particles together and measuring the difference in mass/energy? i once read this somewhere.
I feel like "limits" or boundaries exist because we want them to. We spend most of our lives trying to separate ourselves from everything but in birth and death our physical and spiritual bonds are as close as they'll ever be. n yes im high.
I've often pondered the subject. It's hard to imagine empty space for infinity. It's possible that there would be a point of no stars, no debris, no anything, but the dark, black empty space would go on forever. IF there was a limit, say, a brick wall, then what is on the other side of that wall? Someday, the veil will be lifted.
wow freaky stuff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set It's like a whole new world has just opened in front of my eyes. Here's the British coastline viewed from far away as a map. 11,000 - the distance in miles around the British coastline
The universe though isn't like a very small room and its not the situation where if you could get to the edge you would find it. Since the universe is expanding in all directions there isn't a begining or end to it so if you could travel some how travel outward from any point in the Universe you wouldn't eventually come to an end, you might come all the way around, but you couldn't come to a perceptual end. I'm not a physicist and have trouble wrapping my own head around it but think about it this way. Right now the most distant things we are aware of is are quasars. From our POV it seems like the quasars are at the edge of the universe. Every direction we look we can see quasars out at the limits of our perception. Now from our point of view we see the quasars flying away from us and our perception is that the Universe is expanding outwards in every direction and we are the center. From the quasar's point of view though we and everything else is flying outwards in every direction and we are at the edge of the universe. So what happens is even though we move through the Universe every point on the Universe seems to be the center of the Universe. The best analogy I've heard is if you were a two dimensional point on the surface of sphere. You could move on around on the sphere but you would never find a beginning or end so while the sphere itself is finate there are an infinite number of points on the surface, there is no end point. Now while other points of view, say a viewpoint beyond our space time, might show the universe to have a limit, in terms of a defined edge, the problem is that we could never percieve that. The universe, and all of existence, for us is ultimately relativistic so trying to frame an objective answer to if there is a limit to the Universe is impossible for us to know. (at least based on physics as we understand it now.)
