Ok well I'm no scientist or astronomer or anything like that, though I am fascinated by the unknown (which is of course human nature), especially in
space. Ever since I was a young kid, I have always been fascinated by space and whats out there and stars and planets and aliens and how it all began
and how it's going to end...everything. Anyways, the point of this is, I want to know you guys' (and gals') opinions on something. For some
reason the other day I decided to google information on the universe and like I don't know really how to explain it. I looked up like what our
universe is contained in. I mean like are we in a multiverse where our universe is simply an electron in an even more vast universe which is an
electron in an even vaster universe and so on infinity, but I mean, the way my mind works, I see the need for an end to it, as in a physical end. It
has to be all within something doesn't it? Is it truly for possible for the vacuum to go on infinitely forever in every direction? Here's
something to demonstrate what I mean, written better, from another forum (link at the bottom):
From Carl Sagan's Cosmos;
www.youtube.com...
If the cosmos is closed...there's a strange, haunting, evocative possibility...one of the most exquisite conjectures in science and religion. It's
entirely undemonstrated...it may never be proved, but it's stirring. Our entire universe, to the farthest galaxy, we are told...is no more than a
closed electron...in a far grander universe we can never see. That universe is only an elementry particle...in another still greater universe and so
on forever. Also, every electron in our universe, it is claimed...is an entire miniature cosmos...containing galaxies and stars and life, and
electrons. Everyone of those electrons contains a still smaller universe...an infinite regression up and down.
Another similar philosophical saying;
There is an idea--strange, haunting, evocative- one of the most exquisite conjectures in science or religion. It is entirely undemonstrated; it may
never be proved. But it stirs the blood. There is, we are told, an infinite hierarchy of universes, so that an elementary particle, such as an
electron, in our universe would, if penetrated, reveal itself to be an entire closed universe. Within it, organized into the local equivalent of
galaxies and smaller structures, are an immense number of other, much tinier elementary particles, which are themselves universe at the next level,
and so on forever- an infinite downward regression, universes within universes, endlessly. And upward as well. Our familiar universe of galaxies and
stars, planets, and people, would be a single elementary particle in the next universe up, the first step of another infinite regress.
EXTERNAL LINK
A similar question is, what was there before the big bang? I mean what prompted that explosion to happen in the first place? I've heard of a heart
beat type of theory where our universe expands out so far and then contracts again and it keeps going over and over and over, but again, something has
to cause this and there had to be a beginning right? Also, if the universe is expanding, it has to be expanding into something, there has to be
something there that the universe is expanding into. I know these questions are all like waaaay beyond what we, with our present technology can ever
hope to answer completely, but I'm curious as to what theories there are, and I've looked. Here are a few links to sites I've found on this
stuff:
How Big?
What's at the end of the Universe?
The Boundaries of the Universe (this one asks some good questions,
though it proves the existence of God, which I do believe, though that is NOT the point of this thread, to prove or disprove the existence of God)
Think about it this way, at the end of Men in Black 1, where they zoom out of the Earth, out of the galaxy and all and show the aliens playing with
marbles(galaxies), is it like that minus the aliens? This stuff is really really really interesting if you ask me and I think there is a TON of
potential for concrete discussion on it.
So finally, what I would like to ask all of you is what is your opinion on all of this? Do you have any links to share that you find interesting or
that offer more to the mixing pot of theories? Which theories do you feel are the most logical and all and which don't seem plausible at all? I
just want to know what you all think about this because I find it fascinating, questioning these totally and almost completely unanswerable questions.
[edit on 1/7/2008 by PennKen2009]
[edit on 1/7/2008 by PennKen2009]