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amsalpemkcus · Nov 1, 2003, 03:36 PM

How it all began?
What is its size?
Is it infinite in every dimension?
How is it contained?
Where is the center of the universe?
How old is it?
What was "there" before the beginning?
Where and what is it heading towards (keeping that red shift in mind)?
What is space and time?
Was there a beginning of "time"?
Will time ever end?

Sealobo · Nov 1, 2003, 03:42 PM

That's it... i am going to surf some porn...

RooneyX · Nov 1, 2003, 03:50 PM

Just keeps going round and round. Non-existence is not possible. Something has to exist all the time. This is the everlasting dream within a dream within a dream.

wataru · Nov 1, 2003, 04:06 PM

Turtles all the way down.

xenu · Nov 1, 2003, 04:08 PM

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/end.html

Shaddim · Nov 1, 2003, 06:28 PM

Originally posted by xenu:
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/end.html

However, the time it takes for really big fluctuations like this to occur is truly huge. It dwarfs all the time scales I've mentioned so far. So, it's probably not worth worrying about this issue too much: we don't know enough physics to make reliable predictions on such long time scales.

MacGorilla · Nov 1, 2003, 06:40 PM

Originally posted by sealobo:
That's it... i am going to surf some porn...

Ya this way too deep for a saturday.

ASIMO · Nov 1, 2003, 07:14 PM

The religious would say string theory.

But I agree that it is porn.

ambush · Nov 1, 2003, 07:37 PM

Originally posted by amsalpemkcus:
How it all began?
What is its size?
Is it infinite in every dimension?
How is it contained?
Where is the center of the universe?
How old is it?
What was "there" before the beginning?
Where and what is it heading towards (keeping that red shift in mind)?
What is space and time?
Was there a beginning of "time"?
Will time ever end?

universe = 1 / 0

GoldenHammer · Nov 1, 2003, 07:38 PM

> How it all began?
It never begin and also never end.

> What is its size?
It will never be measurable by human being.

> Is it infinite in every dimension?
It can't be defined, can't even define "infinite".

> How is it contained?
Anything, everything, and actual nothing.

> Where is the center of the universe?
Anywhere, everywhere and nowhere.

> How old is it?
It will never be measurable by human being.

>What was "there" before the beginning?
It never begin and also never end.

> Where and what is it heading towards (keeping that red shift in mind)?
A trap hints found in an adverture video game that confuses you.

> What is space and time?
No space and time, it is a very narrow and limited definition by human being.

> Was there a beginning of "time"? Will time ever end?
It never begin and also never end.

RooneyX · Nov 1, 2003, 07:42 PM

Originally posted by GoldenHammer:
> How it all began?
It never begin and also never end.

> What is its size?
It will never be measurable by human being.

> Is it infinite in every dimension?
It can't be defined, can't even define "infinite".

> How is it contained?
Anything, everything, and actual nothing.

> Where is the center of the universe?
Anywhere, everywhere and nowhere.

> How old is it?
It will never be measurable by human being.

>What was "there" before the beginning?
It never begin and also never end.

> Where and what is it heading towards (keeping that red shift in mind)?
A tip found in an advertur video game that confuses you.

> What is space and time?
No space and time, it is a very narrow and limited definition by human being.

> Was there a beginning of "time"? Will time ever end?
It never begin and also never end.

You defined it the best way possible, it is and isn't. The 'and' is very important.

fat mac moron · Nov 1, 2003, 07:49 PM

Originally posted by wataru:
Turtles all the way down.

The turtle barfed.

(He thrusts his fists)

I'm

(He thrusts his fists against the posts)

seeing

(He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists)

the

(He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees)

deadlights.

(He thrusts his fists against the post, and still insists he sees the ghosts)

11011001 · Nov 1, 2003, 09:08 PM

Originally posted by amsalpemkcus:
Where is the center of the universe?

Imagine a one dimensional universe. Now imagine this one dimensional universe existing on a two dimensional piece of paper. Let us have this little one dimensional universe fold back on itself. So, what you end up with is actually a loop. If you run around in that string in one direction, eventually you will get back to where you started. Imagine this loop of string is expanding. To an observer in that universe it would appear everything was moving away from them.. they might think they are the center as such. But in truth the center of this little one dimensional universe is actually the center of the loop on that 2 dimensional piece of a paper.

Let's take this another step further.

Imagine a two dimensional universe stretched over a three dimensional beach-ball. Now imagine that beach-ball was being blown up. To observers living on that beach-ball in their 2 dimensional universe, it would appear that everything was moving away from them, and they might be justified in concluding that they are thus the center of the universe.

But in truth, the center of that two dimensional universe stretched across the surface of that beach-ball is actually the center of the ball. The center of the 2 dimensional universe actually exists outside of the dimensions of that universe, in a 3 dimensional space.

You can extrapolate the same idea for our universe 3 dimensional universe. It's center exists somewhere in a fourth spatial dimension.

11011001 · 09:39 PM

Originally posted by ambush:
universe = 1 / 0

So it's undefined?

or do you mean,

lim x->infinity 1/x

?

edit: agg.. the infinity symbol doesn't show up

And the universe exists and it doesn't exist? Wouldn't that mean that it doesn't exist? Would it be like saying it is the case that the universe exists, and it is not the case that the universe exists, therefore it is not the case that universe exists (it's an identity, true and false = false).

Shaddim · Nov 1, 2003, 09:25 PM

Originally posted by GoldenHammer:
> How it all began?
It never begin and also never end.

> What is its size?
It will never be measurable by human being.

> Is it infinite in every dimension?
It can't be defined, can't even define "infinite".

> How is it contained?
Anything, everything, and actual nothing.

> Where is the center of the universe?
Anywhere, everywhere and nowhere.

> How old is it?
It will never be measurable by human being.

>What was "there" before the beginning?
It never begin and also never end.

> Where and what is it heading towards (keeping that red shift in mind)?
A trap hints found in an adverture video game that confuses you.

> What is space and time?
No space and time, it is a very narrow and limited definition by human being.

> Was there a beginning of "time"? Will time ever end?
It never begin and also never end.

Ahh, Steady State Theory, what a relic.

Brien · Nov 1, 2003, 10:57 PM

Originally posted by 11011001:
snip

RooneyX · Nov 1, 2003, 11:33 PM

AUM.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/audio/39..._radiofour.ram

GoldenHammer · Nov 2, 2003, 02:17 AM

Originally posted by MacNStein:
Ahh, Steady State Theory, what a relic.

The theory is no theory, at least not a human being theory, not even "no theory" itself. We are in an universe of false and dead lock for human being.

Mr. Blur · Nov 2, 2003, 02:19 AM

according to homer the universe is shaped like a donut....even stephen hawking finds this theory intriguing.

mitchell_pgh · Nov 2, 2003, 02:49 AM

How did it all began?
There was a robot and a heavy drinker... they had a late evening, and one thing lead to another...

What is its size?
23' x 34' x 1'

Is it infinite in every dimension?
No, it's only in the prime dimensions...

How is it contained?
By firefighters...

Where is the center of the universe?
Somewhere near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

How old is it?
It was born on Oct. 34. 56 BC

What was "there" before the beginning?
A bologna sandwich

Where and what is it heading towards (keeping that red shift in mind)?
We are headed in going to the left.

What is space and time?
Words

Was there a beginning of "time"?
Yes

Will time ever end?
Yes, it's going to be March 23, 3042... you heard it here first...

jckalen · Nov 2, 2003, 03:08 PM

How the universe will end:

Boy: Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the center of the universe?

Mr. Owl: one, two, three CRUNCH

all of humanity and everything in the universe: AAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH! We're gonna be owl poop!

ReggieX · Nov 2, 2003, 03:10 PM

Space is big,
Space is dark,
It's hard to find
A place to park.

Burma Shave.

cszar2001 · Nov 2, 2003, 04:18 PM

Those questions are never gonna be answered-at least not by us. Our language and our thinking are bound by the "barriers of evolution"-meaning that there is nothing abstract for our brains.
Einstein, Feynman and all the other physicists described themselves thinking in pictures; if we run out of pictures we run out of things to discover.

The only thing we sometime might be able to do is to build computers with artificial intelligence smart enough to actually find those answers; but again: we couldn`t understand the questions they give us-our brains are just not built/evolved/equipped to handle that stuff.

On a less serious note: the question wasn`t answered in The Hitchhikers Guide-so there really isn`t one!

42 forever!!!!!!

ReggieX · Nov 2, 2003, 04:30 PM

By the way, did anyone catch "The Elegant Universe" on Nova last week? Part 3 is up this Tuesday!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/about.html

gadster · Nov 3, 2003, 08:40 AM

I like to think that evolution gets to a point where a being works out how to make a universe in the past, and makes it, whereupon, everything starts over.