Is there an end to the universe?

Does it matter?

Is there an end to numbers?

The only thing that matters is what stimulates me , gets my attention. It doesn't matter if others can't or won't feel the same way.

“What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is WHAT WE DO.” John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.” Mark Twain

NO. Numbers are as endless as the universe.

“What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is WHAT WE DO.” John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.” Mark Twain

Beginnings and ends Rick are fulla contra and para. The idea that it came into existence out of nothing and ends up as mutually accelerating particles forever is very unsatisfying to the intuition. Some of us suppose eventually they would slow down and reverse in what's called The Big Crunch. When it reaches infinite mass at zero diameter it's critically unstable so then the next Big Bang

Like Nietzsche's "eternal return" doctrine, eh, Dale?

There will be changes, like before and after our Big Band. But it seems to me that there is neither an Ultimate Beginning nor an Ultimate End because, as far as I can grasp, those are no more than human concepts.

Very well stated; we are the 'victims' of our environment called earth and nature.

To paraphrase (i.e., steal from) Feynman (who was talking about QM):

Anyone who understands infinity doesn't understand it.

Thanks Lay, I'll Google that

Layman says after Feynman:
"Anyone who understands infinity doesn't understand it."
I like that very much, and that's only partly because I don't understand it.

Sometimes it's fun to just try to spell things out. As I'm sure you know, JL, the idea is that if you "think" you understand it, then obviously you don't understand it.

Why not? Because that **** is totally incomprehensible, that's why. If you really knew what it was trying to say, then you would know that you don't know what it's trying to say.

Is there a word for that kinda thing, I wonder?

Good'n JL. made my day, or what's left of it anyhow

There are more than a couple ideas of how the universe will end.

One is the rate at which the universe expands will increase to the point where even the space between the atoms get stretched thus ripping them apart overcoming the strong force holding them together. The universe will continue to expand but there will be no matter, no stars, nothing because no particles will be able to form due to this rate of expansion.

Another idea is that the rate of expansion will either have a limit or threshold by which it will either stop accelerating or some other force will slow it down or even reverse it. If it reverses the universe will collapse back in on itself.

My favorite idea is one where all the matter that makes up the universe will re-condense back into a singularity. There is evidence to support this idea which is the galactic filaments showing how galaxies are being brought together into clumps. As their gravitational influences increase given enough time galaxies will collide and in turn increase their gravitational influence dragging in more galaxies until you have just a few hundred billion super massive galaxies which will in turn again be brought together to ultimately recreate the singularity. This is the recycled universe idea. It's possible that this cycle has occurred unending if it is true.

Big Crunch

Mine too Krump, very appealing

I too prefer the notion that the Universe will forever repeat itself. This is not too inconsistent with Buddhist belief because it has no cosmology, but it is very "Buddhist" to identify with the totality rather than one's pitiful little egos.

"Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine." -- a bunch of different physicists over the last 200 odd years

And how, Raz. Reading last eve in Timothy Ferris' "The Whole Shebang" about quantum wierdness, really shakes one up, instant action at a distance etc

I'm not sure about the end. But I believe it begins right here on my keyboard.