If the universe is infinite, does everything exist?

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RichardBB
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12 Sep 2009, 5:02 pm

If the universe is infinite, does that mean that everything exists somewhere, besides obviously impossible things like a star that contains oxygen but doesn't contain oxygen or a 4-sided triangle?



anna-banana
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12 Sep 2009, 5:03 pm

the universe is not infinite though, so why debate it?


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RichardBB
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12 Sep 2009, 8:15 pm

anna-banana wrote:
the universe is not infinite though, so why debate it?


We don't know whether or not the universe is infinite.



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12 Sep 2009, 8:23 pm

I believe that the universe is finite, and ever-expanding. But, there has to be something beyond it,(even if it's just open space) or it wouldn't have anywhere to expand to. :chin:


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willa
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12 Sep 2009, 8:27 pm

now you dont [attempt at fudging a way past the word filter deleted by lau, swearword introduced by willa, and removed by lau] around with the infinite


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Last edited by willa on 18 Sep 2009, 12:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

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12 Sep 2009, 8:27 pm

Oh, no, I cannot exist, for I am a Nobody, and Nobodies do not truly exist.
;)


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jawbrodt
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12 Sep 2009, 8:32 pm

willa wrote:
now you dont [attempt at fudging a way past the word filter deleted by lau] around with the infinite



Oh yeah, I forgot to state my point.....There is something that is infinite, but we can't call it the universe because that is measurable and therefore finite. What the hell should we call it? The "outer-universe infinite expansion place"? :scratch:



:lol:


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Klint
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12 Sep 2009, 8:41 pm

jawbrodt wrote:
I believe that the universe is finite, and ever-expanding. But, there has to be something beyond it,(even if it's just open space) or it wouldn't have anywhere to expand to. :chin:


I agree. But when I was in school, none of my science teachers ever seemed to want to put any thought into it, and would simply say "no, there's nothing outside of the universe." I mean first off, they're just a high school teacher. They're nowhere NEAR intelligent enough to try and state something like that as fact and get away with it. And second, that's a very lazy, closed-minded thing to say for someone whose job it is to educate others. It's like when people get cornered in religious debates and simply throw out, "God works in mysterious ways" to avoid being wrong. :?



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12 Sep 2009, 8:48 pm

Exactly. And what are the odds that there's only one universe? Even if the odds are astronomical, I doubt that it's '1 in infinity'. I don't think that's even possible. So, not only does that mean that there's more than one universe, it means that there's an infinite number of universe's. :nerdy:


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12 Sep 2009, 9:18 pm

jawbrodt wrote:
And what are the odds that there's only one universe?

The odds are that if this one is, the others are going to find that pretty odd.


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12 Sep 2009, 10:56 pm

RichardBB wrote:
If the universe is infinite, does that mean that everything exists somewhere, besides obviously impossible things like a star that contains oxygen but doesn't contain oxygen or a 4-sided triangle?


What do you mean by "everything"? Do you mean everything that is logically possible? If the universe has an infinite extension in time or space there could be infinite repetitions of a finite set of kinds of things. In that case the answer to your question would be No.

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13 Sep 2009, 2:44 am

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying:

"Only two things are infinite. The universe and human stupidity, and I am not certain about the former"



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13 Sep 2009, 2:53 am

The latest evidence suggests that the space-time is relatively flat and thus infinite, as opposed to being curved in on itself like a soap bubble (which is what we once though it might have looked like).

However the amount of matter in the universe is finite. So no, it isn't true that everything that could exist does exist.



RichardBB
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13 Sep 2009, 5:59 am

Dilbert wrote:
The latest evidence suggests that the space-time is relatively flat and thus infinite, as opposed to being curved in on itself like a soap bubble (which is what we once though it might have looked like).

However the amount of matter in the universe is finite. So no, it isn't true that everything that could exist does exist.


So does that mean if you kept traveling through the universe in a spacecraft, eventually you will get to a bunch of empty space.



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13 Sep 2009, 6:15 am

southwestforests wrote:
jawbrodt wrote:
And what are the odds that there's only one universe?

The odds are that if this one is, the others are going to find that pretty odd.


:lol:


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13 Sep 2009, 7:25 am

I believe the universe to be a projection of consciousness.
The universe is finite.
Consciousness is not.


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