Thread: Is there an end to the univers?

  1. #1
    napKINfolk.com napkin111's Avatar
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    Is there an end to the universe?

    I don't know why, but I just started thinking, is there an end to the universe? I think there is not and if there was I would probably kill myself (well, maybe not). I mean, are you going to hit a big boarded off wall that says "under construction" on it?
    What do you guys think?

    Here is an interesting read: http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010625/story.html

    [edit] I changed the subject from "univers" to "universe". I was totally sick of looking totally illiterate.[/edit]

    [re-edit]Ack! didn't work on main message board...[/re-edit]

    //napKIN
    Last edited by napkin111; 12-17-2002 at 09:48 PM.

  2. #2
    The Earth is not flat. Clyde's Avatar
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    Current opinion within the field of cosmology seems to favour 'no' as an answer to your question, but there is an end to everything bar heat within the universe.

    Edit: rereading your question, i think i perhaps misunderstood it, the answer is still the same, as far i'm aware its still no, you don't hit a wall, you end up back where you started. But i may well be mistaken since the last i heard the universe was deemed flat rather than curved.
    Last edited by Clyde; 12-16-2002 at 12:15 PM.

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    Man, astronomy just amazes me.
    Wandering aimlessly through C.....

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  4. #4
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    Clyde: What do you think about "Membrane Theory", or more colloquially "M" theory? This is the one that supposedly takes us back through the big bang into the membrane multiverse that is "outside" our universe.

    Fascinating ideas I thought.
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

  5. #5
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    Yes. Jim Morrison sang about it. You might not want to tell your mother, though.
    Truth is a malleable commodity - Dick Cheney

  6. #6
    Evil Member
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    Yes, there is an end. It's an 'e'.

  7. #7
    The Earth is not flat. Clyde's Avatar
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    "Clyde: What do you think about "Membrane Theory", or more colloquially "M" theory? This is the one that supposedly takes us back through the big bang into the membrane multiverse that is "outside" our universe."

    It is certainly very interesting, Stephen Hawking discusses it a bit in "Universe in a Nutshell", it certainly sounds very interesting, i do not have the expertise to pass any kind of judgement on how plausible or unplausible it may be, as far as I know it is currently an untestable hypothesis, though that may change in the future.

  8. #8
    Shadow12345
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    I didn't read the article. It's been theorized the universe is infinitely expanding from the big bang. There is supposedly no 'end', that seems to make sense. I don't think that is a particularly mind boggling question. A really mind boggling question is what in the hell was 'there' before the big bang took place

    I wrote a really long paper trying to explain that the universe can be explained, but not ever completely explained by humans. That we can in fact observe hierarchies of complexity that probably extend infinitely into higher and higher 'systems'. I compared humans and dogs, saying that although humans and dogs coexist within the same physical area (Earth) we live in totally different realities, that dogs don't understand any of the things around them. I then basically tried to predict the next step in the hierarchy saying humans are the proverbial dogs and that we lack understanding of the universe in much the same way dogs lack the technical understanding of how cars work (for example) : it can fully be explained, but you can never explain it to a dog.

    EDIT: Now that I re-read this I really sound like I'm full of ****, but I hope you all at least consider and try to understand what I'm trying to say

  9. #9
    Guest Sebastiani's Avatar
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    I think that "the end" is a subjective thought. In ancient times some thought the earth was flat. With that thought in mind, moving in a straight line would indeed be endless. Perhaps the same holds true for the end of the universe.
    Code:
    #include <cmath>
    #include <complex>
    bool euler_flip(bool value)
    {
        return std::pow
        (
            std::complex<float>(std::exp(1.0)), 
            std::complex<float>(0, 1) 
            * std::complex<float>(std::atan(1.0)
            *(1 << (value + 2)))
        ).real() < 0;
    }

  10. #10
    Shadow12345
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    Interesting

    I think that's a good way to think of it

    I wish I had thought of it that way

  11. #11
    >>I think that's a good way to think of it

    Try reading the article. Then you wont have to guess.

    >>what in the hell was 'there' before the big bang took place

    Possibly nothing.


    Thats a rather good article, napkin; Thanks for sharing it. I was actually unaware of some of the theories regarding the projected future of the universe. Very interesting indeed.
    "There's always another way"
    -lightatdawn (lightatdawn.cprogramming.com)

  12. #12
    Shadow12345
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    I wonder if the universe only expands so far and then collapses upon itself. From there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from ...

  13. #13
    Evil Sock Puppet MadHatter's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Shadow12345
    I wonder if the universe only expands so far and then collapses upon itself. From there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from there it causes another big bang and then keeps expanding to that certain point and then collapses back on itself and from ...
    ...then what happens?
    If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?

  14. #14
    napKINfolk.com napkin111's Avatar
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    Maybe all the galaxies will do a big loop around the spherical universe and crash into eachother, creating a big bang....like if you have marbles inside a shpere (in zero gravity) and they collide at the bottom, move at the same rate around the inside of the shpere, only to collide at the top, starting the process over... Reading stuff like that makes me feel so small...
    "The best way to get answers is to just keep working the problem, recognizing when you are stalled, and directing the search pattern.....Don’t just wait for The Right Thing to strike you – try everything you think might even be in the right direction, so you can collect clues about the nature of the problem."
    -John Carmack

  15. #15
    Seven years? civix's Avatar
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    The theory I have heard is this:

    Buildups of a "Dark Matter" or unknown force are accumulating at the universe's edges, rapidly expanding it.


    Thus ends the strangest and most believable theory about this subject I have ever heard.
    .

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