I want to take a second and just acknowledge/admire just the sheer size of the universe. I love to play video games, and while doing so I like to put my tablet on something interesting and kinda educational to listen to on the side, and as of lately the topic I have been focusing on a lot is space. As stated in the title, the universe is so ridiculously large...it is so large that I dont believe we have a word or combination thereof that can actually describe how large it is lol. For instance, take yourself and compare you to the size of our earth which has a radius of I think 4000 miles. Then compare the earth to the sun which can fit approximately 1,300,000 earths inside of it. Compare our sun to VY Canis Majoris which is the largest sun we know of that is appropriately 2000x the size of our sun. Now compare yourself...to VY Canis Majoris. That is so large its difficult to imagine. Thats only the sheer size of suns/stars. Now what about distances? Holy (*)(*)(*)(*) thats not even quantifiable lol. The universe is so stupidly large that we dont use miles to determine how far things are apart. We use "light years". Think about that for a second...a light year is how far light travels in 1 year. Light moves at 299,792 kilometers per second!!! And we are measuring how far it goes in 1 year!!! I believe its about 6 trillion miles. Just to cross our Milky Way would take 100,000 years if we traveled at the speed of light. The closest galaxy to ours is the Andromeda galaxy which is estimated 2.5 MILLION light years away!!!!!!!! It is estimated there are 100 BILLION galaxies in JUST THE KNOWN UNIVERSE which is estimated to be only 5 (*)(*)(*)(*)ING PERCENT of the universe!!!!!! Holy crap....the universe is so ridiculously large!!! Citations: YOUTUBE
What we can see is not the universe...it is a tiny pinprick in the fabric of a ever ending spool in a warehouse full of spools. Oh....and no one knows how many warehouses there are.
Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.
Where did you read that, tecoyah - Science Today magazine? 'and no one knows how many warehouses there are'!
Actually I jut made that up by using something it would seem you are unfamiliar with.....Imagination. You see the way science and discovery function begins with hypothesis, this is created by imagining possibilities and forwarding them through communication of Idea. These ideas are then expanded upon by other thinking humans and either dismissed as unworkable and erroneous data or shown to be viable possibility and advanced into the realm of theory. Unfortunately some few individuals lack the ability to use this very powerful tool within the human arsenal and thus the knowledge created is forever beyond their grasp. Generally this situation instils a measure of pity in the minds of those who have this ability, and eventually annoyance as the unfortunate affliction becomes painfully clear and continuously projected.
I'd go along with all of that except in the 'science' of cosmology. Oh, and I consider it a public duty to expose the frauds to those who are too gullible to see it for themselves. I shall not rest until my work here is done, and will 'continuously project' it for all I'm worth. So onwards and upwards!
It is now known that GRBs [gamma ray bursts] - phenomenally intense beams of gamma rays that flash for 0.2 to 2 seconds - originate as far away as 12 billion light years or so [not sure of the exact number]. They are caused by stars collapsing into black holes. So each burst that we see is the death of a star. It is also known that we are fifth generation stardust. We and the sun are made from the residue of a star that died [went nova or supernova], that was supplied with material from another star that died, which came from another star that died, and so on. At 12 billion light years, some gamma ray bursts observed are the deaths of the great-great-great-grandparents of our own sun - stars that died 12 billion years ago.
Everything in the universe is recycled. The elements that comprise ourselves are some of the most common in the universe. We came from star dust and will become star dust again at some future point in time. That is how the universe operates.
` ` ...and that's just what we can see in our reality. Taking into account the Multiverse, branes and the "Many Worlds Theory", it becomes impossible to grasp.
Although, so far those are all strictly theoretical. The multiverse hypothesis is especially tantalizing because it could explain how we ended up with physical constants that work - the speed of light, gravitational constant, Planks constant, permittivity constant, etc. How did we get so lucky that the physical constants were "tuned" so that we and all matter can exist? Some have hailed this as evidence of a God. But the multiverse hypothesis suggests that for every successful universe, there could be millions of failed universes where the physical constants did not allow the formation of matter. It is all a matter of very long odds that we can exist. What a mind blow!
And it would be a hoot if this vast universe was as Tom Campbell thinks, similar to a virtual reality, created by something analogous to a computer, a Consciousness outside of the virtual reality? He has worked this view out, from a physicist point of view, given he is a physicist. I like his view because it also presents purpose. Instead of purposelessness. Meaning, instead of meaninglessness. Call me a romantic. Of course staunch materialists revolt against such an idea. For they are convinced, using nothing but faith, that matter is the fundamental ground of reality. Yes, materialism, and its counter, idealism, are both based upon an assumption. The assumption is like a foothold that is needed in order to climb past the foothold. But the foothold is also uncertain, for it was just an assumption. But necessary of course. But what a marvelous foothold it has been, for look at what it has produced in science and the technology coming from the science. Yet materialism cannot prove itself, No more than the Bible can be used to prove itself. For one must assume matter is foundational, fundamental, as one has to assume the bible is foundational fundamental if the ultimate nature of reality is being sought. Materialistic science has worked to create understanding which then creates technology. The bible has worked to create a feeling of security, to aid in addressing the fear of death, the fear of loss, for many people. So science serves the issue of human comfort and survival, while religion addresses the emotional side of humanity. Yet both can destroy life. And have. And all of this takes place in a universe so vast as to be incomprehensible to the human brain. I am of the belief that the universe does not exist until some consciousness can look at it, but not necessarily using eyes exclusively. So, there is no universe past the visible, until a consciousness can look at it. Like a video game, where what is around the corner does not exist in reality, until the gamer travels around the corner.
One interesting hypothesis addresses the question of consciousness. It reminds me something a friend once said: We are the universe becoming aware of itself. If consciousness can arise in a sufficiently complex network, such as the brain or a highly sophisticated computer, as many experts believe, then what are the criteria and limits for such a system? It is suggested that any process in the brain or a computer can also exist at large scale through gravity. This in turn begs the question, could the universe be self aware? After all, there is no bigger or more complex information network. If consciousness and self-awareness are emergent properties of sufficiently large and complex information systems, then we might expect that the universe is indeed conscious. We would expect the universe to be a very slow thinker; with up to billions of years for information to transfer from one point to another. But with multidimensional concepts, wormholes, branes, entanglement, and other potential or known aspects of reality, who knows the limits for information transfer. We can only imagine. It gets even more interesting when we consider that information, and not energy or momentum, may be the most fundamental unit of measure. And we know that information and energy are interchangeable as per the solution to the Maxwell's Demon paradox. It is even suggested by some that information is all that really exists.
I don't put a whole lot of credit to hypothesis that suggest the universe, reality, etc is reliant on our consciousness. Mabye one day I'll be proven wrong but it seems to me that reality, and the universe is perfectly capable of existing without our consciousness or awareness of it. - - - Updated - - - Yea, just theoretical as of right now, but it definitely is fun to think about. Because like you say, it's already seems impossibly large to grasp, but add that in multiverse and why even try? Lolol
That's interesting, never heard of that but I'm only recently interested in space like I am now. You have any citations? I'll probably look it up regardless but that would help. Preferably video lol.
Matter/energy exists in the universe ergo no "faith" is necessary. There is zero evidence of any purpose and therefore it requires "faith" for there to be some imaginary "purpose". Matter/energy does not require a "purpose" to exist either. Reality is based upon the existence of matter/energy. Imaginary "purpose" is little more an attempt to anthropomorphize the universe by mankind with only a stone age knowledge of the universe hence the need for "faith" to fill in the gaps in the knowledge that was not yet acquired. Today, with a much greater knowledge base the need for a "faith based purpose" is no longer necessary when it comes to understanding the universe of matter/energy. That doesn't mean that the stone age "faith based purpose" has to disappear because it still has a role to play in the lives of people. But it does mean that the stone age "faith based purpose" needs to concede that our knowledge base has increased to the point where imaginary deities are no longer needed to be the "creators of the universe".
- wiki There is a good documentary called "The Real Death Star", on Netflix. While you're at it, you might check out "Einstein's Biggest Blunder", also on Netflix. They discuss a fascinating model that could explain what came before the Big Bang and why the bang happened. Einstein's Cosmological Constant may be the key to all existence. Not bad for one's biggest blunder!
Yeah...the faith based people do a lot of blind guessing about the true nature of the REALITY of existence. So do you, Derideo. It is difficult almost to the point of impossible for them to see that they are merely guessing about what existence is. Apparently it is just as difficult for people like you to do the same. I wonder why that is?
All I do is extrapolate from existing scientific knowledge. Yes, that is speculation on my part but I am not trying to convince anyone to believe in a religion by merely expressing my own opinion. And last time I checked the 1st Amendment protected my right to express my opinion just as it protects your right to express yours and theists their rights to believe whatever stone age myths they prefer. However the laws of physics and the factual knowledge we have about the universe are not based upon "faith". They are based upon scientific principles and research.
