How do we explain an infinite universe?

"We" try very, very hard not to think about it.

That's scary as hell.

Mayeb it's like an asymptote that we can never reach...

I've been asking my peers, other firends, family, anyone that will listen that exact question: Does space go on forever, and if not, what's at the end?

And also, I've ben talking about the question of: Does anything really go on forever? Is there any such thing as infinity?

We are told tha looking into space using increasingly sensitive technology, that the universe stretches nearly thirty billion light years across.

So far as can be determinedl, there is no visible boundary to space time. But could the model of the universe as infinite be as flawed as the old view that the world is flat? Perhaps, as Einstein suggested, space-time is curved, connected and compacted.

No one really knows.

The universe is bigger than we are and for a lot of people that is a problem they can't abide.

but it aint as big as yore hat.

Einstein also suggested that it is the objects in space that determing the shape and size of space. That computes.

It is easy to confuse infinity with eternity, but they are not the same. The idea of time as something linear is also a confusing factor.

If we were to travel in a spacecraft to the end of the known universe, we'd only be expanding it, pushing it ahead of us as we traveled further away from everything.

But infinity refers to something else as I see it. It refers to the riddle of causality, the seemingly incomprehensible fact that the present is here without a beginning or an end. The fact that every reaction has a reaction implies that this cannot end, and that it never did begin. I do not understand it completely, but I think this is what it means that the universe is infinite.

As far as we can tell, the Universe is as big as it is old.

The only way of 'measuring' it is with EM phenomon that travel at the speed of light - ergo we can't actually perceive anything that is further away than the light and radiation created in the first moment of the Universe. If it is travelling faster than light and making the Universe larger then we are just unable to 'see' it.

Great abstract concepts like infinity, unbounded or bounded universe, linear time that goes on forever and Absolute Truth only serve very limited functions for us. When we take them too seriously we create false/artificial problems with which we suffer metaphysical vertigo. I don't think they reflect anything other than what's in our heads. I use them all the time, of course, but I do not see them as absolute pictures of anything real. Relax, the zen master tells us, and enjoy our tea. The great abstract concept I have the most difficulty not taking seriously is Ultimate Reality. But I enjoy my tea anyway.

Science offers no explanation whatever for the origin of the universe, or what might have existed an instant before the "big bang"(including time). Modern physics offers fairly complete descriptions for the subsequent expansion of space and the formation of stars and galaxies. The universe is very large and it is expanding. How long it will last is an unanswered question. Stars are burning out (as will our sun) and new stars are being formed, both in great numbers. Matter and information disappear beyond the event horizons of black holes, and we don't know what may lie beyond. The laws of thermodynamics tell us that the whole thing will run down at some point to an isothermal dead sea. However that prospect is very remote compared to the relatively momentary time span of human civilization.

There is an interesting 19th century proof for the finiteness of the universe, both in space and time. Start with the assumptions that the universe is more or less homogeneously populated with galaxies and that it has always existed. With that it is relatively easy to prove that the night sky is as bright as the surface of the sun. Of course it is not. QED.

Perhaps concepts like distance, or our perception of it and how we measure it, are far from the true underlying reality of the world we inhabit. If so then simply something else can readily exist and size, even infinite size, might be a small pocketable thing to any being with a higher level understanding and means of interacting with this deeper reality.

There might very readily be alot more to existence then our very limited way of observing time and space.

Physics as it is with relativity, quandum duality and all the rest is hard enough. I am fascinated with cosmology, but barely able to keep up with it even without considering the perspectives of higher powers.

A week ago next Wednesday I climbed aboard a spacecraft capable of travel at .00002 % greater than the speed of light. My cat, Ruby and I pushed off just after the moon swung out of our way and headed out to the edge of time. Right after lunch which we ate before midnight Monday I tripped the door latch and stepped out onto the glistening rim of the universe. It wasn't all that special.

It was like the time I stood on the ledge holding the note about MaryAnn Podesta, but without so many sirens. I did look down. Richie Farina was right and so was Einstein about it being up to me.

And since it is up to me, I'll tell you. They've got the quarks all wrong, they are not up, down, middle and strange, they are all strange and changing, just like the edge of the universe.

Ruby and I, we didn't worry about being early, but we're back here early enough to see the sun go around and the moon soar unhurried just like last Sunday when we watched it before we headed for the spaceport three days away.

Joe(the batteries in my watch must be bad, it say Tuesday)Nation

you got back before you even left. Why then did you decide to go? seeing that you already had been there and returned . Now that is a condom.Is it not?

When he got back, he saw this fellow who bore a striking resemblance. Upon realizing he had just discovered his evil twin, he was forced to do away with him. Now he is nowhere to be found. Fortunately he left his post so we can deduce what happened.

The question we now face is: Should we alert Star Fleet?

It wasn't that we decided to go, it was that we decided to go again after we got back the first time.

We are now stuck in a loop of time which roughly spans a week ago Wednesday until a bit later today which is when we take off again unless I decide not to go, unless I am not allowed not to decide not to go. If I have to go, we loop until Doomsday and my dry cleaning, ready on Friday, will never be picked up. If I can prevent the takeoff by some means I shall meet you for drinks on Thursday at the Blessing of the Fleet.

Joe(What a great excuse for not going to my brother's for Thanksgiving)Nation