Where is the Centre of the Universe?

c.i., think you might be off by about 3 inches to the left

dagmaraka..
(sorry for a late response.)

In a reply to your question, let me say only this, for the moment:

-- a proof is a method of persuasion about what one thinks to be true. --

While it is a popular religous idea that Earth is the only inhabited world, that seems like a huge waste as Earth is likely much less than a trillionth of the worlds in the known universe. Several Bible verses infer that Jesus is the Savior of many worlds, so Earth could be considerably off center. So far there is little observational evidence of a center, but that does not prove there is no center, nor that there is no edge. Main stream science however says no center and no edge but that the universe does have a finite size that is presently unknown. These conclusions follow from very advanced math and non-Eucidian geometry which is way over my head. Neil

What if the shape, dimension, size, and parameters of the universe is beyond human understanding as we exist today!

Science is a human way of knowledge. But what is knowledge without humans?

The thermodynamic law myth


What is knowledge when God, Newton and Einstein play dice and lose everything ? When humans call a moron a genius. Such 'knowledge' is anti wisdom and not worth having.

The universe is infinite and therefore has no centre but I suspect this thread began as a joke.

I posted wrong yesterday so here is the info again at www.thewebspert.com/cresswell/. What is an Avatar? How to I get one?
I look like an aged Harry Potter but am not so naff as.

Janus20..
Knowledge is based on beliefs.
(I am talking about human knowledge, of course.)

COMMENT:

Frankly, that would be the best guess to make.

The science is almost brand spanking new.

We KNOW very little.

Delphi.

Here's an interesting link on Delphi. http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21110a/e211ja01.html

c.i.

Re: The thermodynamic law myth


COMMENT:

How do you know the universe is infinite -- or are you just guessing and pretending that you know?

c.i., I did some research on the Oracles of Delphi a few years back and found out that they went into hallucinogenic trances because there was a gas that seaped out of the ground at Delphi. Can you imagine being high for your entire career? Wow - no wonder they were in the prediction business!

BillW, Didn't know about that 'gas' before now. We visited Delphi about six or seven years ago when my brother, his wife, and my wife went on a cruise to the Greek Isles. I remember the small museum they have at Delphi, and the large Roman theatre. c.i.

I'll go looking again and see if I can find a link!

Here's what brief research came up with. I remember that I first heard about the gases theory on NPR. Following is a link that goes nowhere, probably because they don't maintain that much history:



Here is a bit of academic research:



Here is a picture to the location - do you remember Luigi?



And finally, a bit of friviolity:




http://www.mysteriousworld.com/Journal/2002/Spring/Fragments/#Oracle

How about using physics and a berometer to determine the height of a building. c.i.
*******************************
The barometer

The following question appeared in a physics degree exam at the University of Copenhagen:

"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer."

One enterprising student replied: "You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."

This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed immediately. The student appealed, on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case.

The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics; to resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to verbally provide an answer which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics.

For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind which to use.

On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows:

"One, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 3D 1/2gt squared (height equals half times gravity time squared). But bad luck on the barometer.

"Two, if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper.

"Three, if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a
short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first
at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is
worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force (T = 3D 2 pi sqr root of l over g).

"Four, if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be
easy to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer
lengths, then add them up.

"Five, if you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course,
you could use the barometer to measure air pressure on the roof of the
skyscraper, compare it with standard air pressure on the ground, and
convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the
building.

"Six, since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of
mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to
knock on the janitor's door and say to him 'I will give you this nice new
barometer, if you will tell me the height of this skyscraper.'"

The arbiter re-graded the student with an 'A.'

My opinion: he should have received an "A+" c.i.

Did you see my reponse to the Delphi gasses c.i. - you might have missed it since be posted about the same time?

BillW, Read your post on the oracle gasses. Interesting. I bet many ancient beliefs were established based on some false premise contemporary scientists would laugh at today. c.i.

Some scientific results today are laughable - without turning this into a political/religious thread, I'll leave it there.

Infinite
In response to Janus20, I dont believe that current evidence is in favor of the universe being infinite. Now my craving of chocolate...thats infinite.
Greg

To the thread.
We need to define what universe we are going to talk about first.

For instance Our Observable Universe. Clearly finite and I am clearly in the absolute center. Probably due only to the nature of electromagnetic radiation (light) though.

But all that is, is called "The Cosmos". This may or may not be the same thing as the observable universe.

The universe as space-time. All observable things are manifestations of space-time including a Big Bang. Obviously no way of knowing where we are now. Or even if it's time to go to work yet .

Our Observable Universe as a galactic type object in the Cosmos. In this case our "Big Bang" is somebody elses "Black Hole". Hard to find a center there also.

So, for the time being everybody here can say without fear of contradiction. "I am at the exact geographic of Our Observable Universe."

This is a "geocentric view". It has been held by humans for at least 15,000 years. It has been approved by the Vatican so we all can rest easily for eternity, however long that is.

I have skipped over a few other universes. Describe them and we'll talk about them too.