Poll: The universe.

[BakaMick]

Of course, the universe is gradually slowing down isn't it? So much so to a point that i't will eventually collapse inwardly on itself, according to the laws of entropy, when all thermal and mechanical functions fail. Thus rendering all human endeavour ultimately pointless...

Just to put this thread in some kind of context.

 

[letsnoobtehpwns]

I say that God made us out of Legos 5000 years ago!

 

[daywalker1776]

alright I will

 

[daywalker1776]

I think that the universe (logically) is a finite place with a beginning and an end.

I belive this too. I also belive that God created the universe, in the exact way it says in the bible. [small]so sue me.[/small]

alright I will

 

[the_abhorsen]

Other: The Big Bang was formed by the Big Crunch (Shocking names here). Anyway, the Big Crunch was basically the previous universe collapsing in on itself and exploding out like supernova.

So you believe in an expanding and retracting universe that has always been?

Anyway, I guess I should have put this on my first post but whatever. I beleive that the universe was created at the big bang and is still expanding as a result of the explosion. Eventually, the expansion will stop and the force of gravity will begin pulling everything in the universe towards the center of the universe. This will then result in the big crunch. I beleive that the universe began at a point because I seem to sympathise with Emanuel Kant's argument against a universe with no beginning.

Actually depends on the mass of the universe, If there's not enough then the gravitational forces will never be strong enough to overcome the expansion and everything well eventually get very, very cold....

 

[Zacharine]

A finite universe that began at some point in time. If 'What was before the Big Bang' is even a meaningful question, I don't know and I don't care what was before, I count the Big Bang as the beginning of this universe. If there was something before that, it was a different universe.

Finite, since once the Inflaton field collapsed after the first few Planck's time's had passed, the speed of light has been the apparent maximum speed, and since the universe began it has been expanding for only a finite amount of time hence the universe has a finite size.

I personally think that Infinity exists only as a concept, much like a perfect circle.

Some finite amount of time in the future, the end of the universe will a heat death, where all available energy has spread out uniformly and no work (in the physics/chemistry sense) can be done. Essentially, the temperature of the universe will approach (but never quite reach) absolute zero as the universe keeps expanding, stars will have died out etc. That's my current view on the subject.

 

[lolmynamewastaken]

"the second we discover how and why we are here we will disapeare and be replaced by something even more inexplicable" can't remember who im quoting and i don't think i've got it exactly right so if im wrong tell me. in the mean time STOP IT WITH ALL THE DAMN THEORIES! do you want to be right?!

 

[spuddyt]

No bally idea, and there's no way i'm finding out without a few million lifetime's research which I frankly don't have the time for
And lolmynamewastaken, you are quoting one of the hitchiker's guide to the galaxy books (either restaurant at the end of the universe or the one after I think...)

 

[Zacharine]

"the second we discover how and why we are here we will disapeare and be replaced by something even more inexplicable"

Douglas Adams. The quote continues: "some believe this has already happened at least once."

The book was the 5-part trilogy Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

 

[the_abhorsen]

I think that the universe (logically) is a finite place with a beginning and an end.

I don't find that very logical at all.
It is all of existence as far as we know, how can existence begin? It had to always be, period.
Although, I suppose that is technically my opinion.

Some theorys suggest that space eventally curves back on itself, so if you had a long enough stick you could poke yourself in the back of the head no matter what direction you pointed it. But I wouldn't call that infinity in the same way I wouldn't claim a circle had infinite length...

 

[Fumbles]

What universe theory do you believe in?

I actually believe in the bubble universe theory. That there are infinite other "Bubble Universes".

 

[lolmynamewastaken]

"the second we discover how and why we are here we will disapeare and be replaced by something even more inexplicable"

Douglas Adams. The quote continues: "some believe this has already happened at least once."

The book was the 5-part trilogy Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

cheers bro. don't really know where i got it from as i've never read a hitchhikers guide to the galaxy... although i've always wanted to...

 

[ragamuffingirl]

Wizard did it.

 

[Zacharine]

I think that the universe (logically) is a finite place with a beginning and an end.

I don't find that very logical at all.
It is all of existence as far as we know, how can existence begin? It had to always be, period.
Although, I suppose that is technically my opinion.

Some theorys suggest that space eventally curves back on itself, so if you had a long enough stick you could poke yourself in the back of the head no matter what direction you pointed it. But I wouldn't call that infinity in the same way I wouldn't claim a circle had infinite length...

Then there's also the fun parts with Quantum Mechanics. On certain conditions, causality breaks down, ie. effect can precede the cause, which on certain thought models means that events can spontaneosly cause themselves. Or that effect can happen without a discernable cause.

By this, it is quite possible that universe, once began, had a backwards effect in time acting as it's own cause. Ie. Universe caused itself due to the extreme curvature of space-time. Some people have described it to me in this way: Imagine the current space-time as a piece of flat paper. When there is mass on the paper, in bouldges down, causing a slight bump in the paper. This is Gravity. At the big Bang, space-time might not have been a flat piece of paper but something resembling a pretzel: you could theoretically pick a direction, travel only forward in both space and time (from a subjective perspective) and end up right where you began just before you left. Quantum Mechanics makes my brains hurt, but damn if it isn't interesting....

What the truth of the matter is, we don't know.

 

[the_abhorsen]

I have a bone to pick with this theory. If the universe was ifinite, than looking out in the night sky, your vision would go on and on and on until it hit something out in space which would probably be a star or something reflecting the light of a star. This means that if you were to look out at the night sky you would see nothing but a solid blanket of light. Now, if the universe did begin at a point in time, then you could say that the reason it isn't like that is because the light from all these star hasn't had time to reach us and thus we have blank spots in our sky.

We cant
*shrug* i think there's enough space between the stars to allow for darkness... and a normal night sky. even with an infinite universe. and just because there's an infinite universe doesn't mean there's stars in all of it. or galaxies... etc. who knows. we haven't been to the end of space.

and if it was finite, what's after the universe? white...ness? nothing?

I have a bone to pick with this theory. If the universe was ifinite, than looking out in the night sky, your vision would go on and on and on until it hit something out in space which would probably be a star or something reflecting the light of a star. This means that if you were to look out at the night sky you would see nothing but a solid blanket of light. Now, if the universe did begin at a point in time, then you could say that the reason it isn't like that is because the light from all these star hasn't had time to reach us and thus we have blank spots in our sky.

*shrug* i think there's enough space between the stars to allow for darkness... and a normal night sky. even with an infinite universe. and just because there's an infinite universe doesn't mean there's stars in all of it. or galaxies... etc. who knows. we haven't been to the end of space.

and if it was finite, what's after the universe? white...ness? nothing?

Slight tangent, but still interesting. Had you ever wondered how many of the stars in the nights sky still exist? The light we see from them can be millions of years old so they may have burned out or gone nova long long ago....Hell even the light we get from the sun takes about seven minutes to reach us, so it could suddenly shut down right now and we wouldnt have a clue...

 

[daywalker1776]

Here it is
the universe began about 14 billion years ago (13.7) with the big bang.
now, as far as we simple, naive humans can see, it is still expanding and at a faster rate as it expands. Now, thanks to gravity's weakness (it is relatively weak in comparison to the other 4 main types of forces strong nuclear, weak nuclear, or electromagnetism, and gravity), we have come to the conclusion that gravity, as a force, is leaking over from another universe (mathematics has also proved this). Now there is a theory that the big bang was caused by two universes colliding, and since these universes have (I believe) 11 dimensions they ripple, causing to uneven distribution of matter throughout the universe. It would take me forever to go into further detail about this so I'll just end it at that!

 

[la-le-lu-li-lo]

Slight tangent, but still interesting. Had you ever wondered how many of the stars in the nights sky still exist? The light we see from them can be millions of years old so they may have burned out or gone nova long long ago....Hell even the light we get from the sun takes about seven minutes to reach us, so it could suddenly shut down right now and we wouldnt have a clue...

i do wonder it, and then move onto how delicious the coffee i'm drinking is. i don't really care to overthink on things that don't really affect me or the people around me. that might mean i'm slightly egotistical... idk.

also, we'd figure it out in seven minutes! *checks watch*

 

[flare09]

The kind that's far far away...

 

[Gadzooks]

I believe that every person is in their own universe with about 300 other people who they interact with at some point in their lives.

Then what the fuck happens when you move far away from the place that you live? You will then meet around 300 more people, so whatever happened to the previous 300? What if in addition to the 300 new people you meet, you keep in contact with the past 300? And what about all the people you see on television? Do they not really exist in the unverse since you don't react with them?

Celebrities aren't real people anyway, they are mostly plastic half humans, so logically we exclude them. Also, they live in your tv, and are made of pixels, so maybe they are less plastic even, and more ethereal and borderlining intangible (Because they don't even exist when the TV is turned off).

When you meet the next 300 people I'd say this is much like interstellar travel. If we went to a new universe via some crazy time-space rift thingo (True scientific lingo), it wouldn't really be our own universe, but it would still exist as another universe that can be visited and observed, but it is not your universe. So, if you move to another city, you can call it your own, but then the old city will no longer be your own universe, and that normally includes friends/acquaintances from the past universe being squashed into semi-existance.

Of course, since you will mostly see them in photos and talk via phone or the internet, they become very similar to the TV-MEN, and are not really real but are instead just pixels in a screen that are non-existant in your own universe. They can visit though, and often they bring presents, but only for good boys.