"Joseph Lazio" bravely wrote to "All" (19 Jun 04 14:22:23)
--- on the heady topic of " endless universe?"

JL From: Joseph Lazio
JL Subject: endless universe?
JL Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
JL Xref: aeinews sci.astro:33358

"T" == Tim923 writes:

T Is the universe infinitely large.

JL It would appear to be. The available evidence is consistent with a
JL certain form of the Big Bang model. One of the other predictions of
JL this model is that the Universe is spatially infinite. There is, of
JL course, no way to test this prediction, but it seems reasonable to
JL adopt it given the other successes of the model.

T If the universe were finite in size, what would be the barrier?

JL A finite volume (or area) need not have a barrier. Consider the
JL surface of the Earth.

I think the wrong question is getting answered. I suspect that size is
only a side effect of the passage of time. Clearly when we look at
distant objects we are really looking back in time. In fact everywhere
from where we are presently lies in the past. Matter and space could
just be like optical illusions caused by the passage of time between
events in which an energy transfer took place. As energy is dissipated
the past gets cooler until at some point the past will vanish from
view, an effect that is measured as the redshift. The energy liberated
in an event however is propelled forward in time into the future
direction where someone will be to observe its arrival. Time then is
just the temporal perception between events. The universe exists how
we perceive it now and observing it affects how we see it in the
future. Each century finds that the previous pardigm was flawed in
some way and a new idiom has to be reinvented. This is precisely
because we changed how we saw the universe. The universe is basically
inside our minds. Just watch out for big rocks falling from the sky,
that's the energy liberated from past events to nail us in the future!

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... Essay: Describe the universe in 500 words or less & name 2 examples.