What is the deal with the Universe?

[Syrinx]

Several hours ago, I watched Brian Greene on BookTv. I think he's been on Colbert a couple of times. And he was talking about the Universe.

What would happen if you could fly through the universe at near-infinite speed?

He posited three theories, and I agree with them, because I already thought of them years ago when I was toking up.

Either you come to a wall at the end of space. That doesn't really make sense. Because, what's behind the wall.

Or you end up where you started. The universe is more or less a sphere.

Or you just keep going forever and ever... the Universe is infinite.

I know this question is a cliche. But does anyone know the answer?

I'm leaning to the infinite universe, but how can that be?

What is reality, man?

This stuff just blows my mind, and when I hear a serious discussion about it, it takes me days or weeks to get my mind off it.

[RebelOne]

1. I've always wondered about that.

And also the brick wall concept. Is there any end or does it just go on forever?

[Syrinx]

2. And I must apologize for saying "near infinite"

That is non-sensical, and I know it. This kind of stuff is very confusing.

[eShirl]

3. "Or you end up where you started. The universe is more or less a sphere."

like Asteroids! only that's actually square-ish

[Syrinx]

4. now that's a flashback!

I smell bubblegum and Mountain Dew! And just a hint of mj on the denim.

:)

[eShirl]

5. you knew me!

:rofl:

[Syrinx]

6. awesome!

You were the girl at Aladdin's Castle that I was afraid to talk to!

:hi:

[NYC_SKP]

7. Not cliche, quite natural.

Didn't most of us wonder about these things at some early age like 8-10 years old.

Personally I can't see any answer other than infinite.

:donut:

[pintobean]

8. 42

[Kat45]

25. Good answer

to Life, the Universe, and Everything.

[rurallib]

9. or is what we call a universe just one of several universes?

Maybe some that include more dimensions than we can fathom.
It is a mind boggler for sure

[EOTE]

10. I tend to believe in the multiverse.

The question then arises if all the separate universes are entirely discrete, or do we have the ability to effect them, travel to them and such. I believe variations of superstring theory suggest that we have 20+ spatial dimensions. That we're only capable of really perceiving 3 spatial dimension means that we're only seeing a very tiny fraction of what there is to see.

Carl Sagan did an excellent job of explaining how X-dimensional beings interpret (X+Y) dimensions. Because we interpret things in 3 dimensions, he used the example of a 2-dimensional being confined to a 2-dimensional plane (a piece of paper). A 3-dimensional being visited the 2-dimensional being, but being able to see in 2-dimensions, the 2D being could only see a "slice" of the 3D being at a time. As the 3D being came across the 2D plane, the 2D being could see various slices until it had passed through the plane. So the 2D being could composite those slices to get a better idea of what the 3D being looks like.

Sagan did a far better job of explaining it than I did. We could use more like him now.

[MilesColtrane]

11. The universe is infinite, but flat.

If you were flying through space, you would never come to the edge of the universe, or a wall, because you couldn't "outrun" time.

http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_shape.html

[sarge43]

12. "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine; it is

stranger than we can imagine." J.B.S. Haldane

Here's another one: This universe may be one of an infinite number of universes. Could be nested within one another or existing in different realities.

[pokerfan]

13. So, what you're saying is...

Okay. That means that... our whole solar system... could be, like... one tiny atom in the fingernail of some other giant being. This is too much! That means... one tiny atom in my fingernail could be... could be one little... tiny universe.



The universe came from nothing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo

(Lawrence Krauss gives a talk on our current picture of the universe, how it will end, and how it could have come from nothing. Krauss is the author of many bestselling books on Physics and Cosmology, including "The Physics of Star Trek.")

[gratuitous]

14. What would be the difference between the wall and the sphere?

I presume by "sphere" you're talking about traveling on the inside surface of the sphere, and ending up back where you started. But what would be on the other side of the inside surface of the sphere, and how would that be different from the wall at the end of space?

For me, it's a source of wonder and imponderable to consider that the light we perceive from distant stars and galaxies is arriving here after an incredibly long journey. I think the nearest star in our sparsely populated neighborhood of the visible universe is more than four light years away, which means that the light we see from even that "close" star was generated four years ago. That star could burn out today, and we wouldn't know about it until 2016. Other objects are even farther away, and what we see of them today occurred millions and even billions of years ago.

[mainegreen]

15. Too much universe, not enough branes.

That's what my pappy always told me.

[warrior1]

16. when we

look at the night sky we are peering into the past.




All of the red dots are moving away from us.

This is as far as they've been able to peer to the edge of space, just more space.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

19. I want the one on the left

[mainegreen]

20. Of the set of four large galaxies in the upper left, the one one the right looks like a trilobite.

Pictures like that call out for wall size monitors.

;)

[pokerfan]

26. A cool tool

that allows one view the entire UDF colour mosaic. Load the UDF Skywalker then click-drag the green circle to pan around the whole image.

http://www.aip.de/groups/galaxies/sw/udf/index.php#

[kalli007]

21. Three times I read this as....

when we look at the night sky we are peeing into the past.

[mainegreen]

22. You are not alone.

:D

[A-Schwarzenegger]

17. "Keep your friends close, keep the universe closer."

--Ishii Ougourou

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. The first four dimensions are a mobius strip, around the next 7 dimensions.

Or something like that. Such was posited in the speculative book "The Hercules Text".

[struggle4progress]

23. I heard it got drunk and did that big bang thingy and now it has a hangover

[Generic Brad]

24. I know the answer

But I'm not going to post it only because I'm feeling smug tonight.

[Skip Intro]

27. I think the truth, the full reality of it all, is way, way beyond our comprehension.

Even imagination.

I've long thought the human race, in perceiving and understanding it's surroundings, is akin to a blind man, unaware that he is blind, in a huge art gallery, stumbling over furniture in the lobby.

[RedCloud]

28. It is impossible for anything to exist.

Do you have that solution?

[Kablooie]

29. If you keep going, sooner or later you end up in Poughkeepsie.

or not.