+102 The universe is boundless. There are no walls, no place for it to end. It's impossible to grasp the concept of infinite space, to me at least, but the reverse also makes no sense. If there were walls, an end, that nothing could possibly go past, it makes no sense for there to be absolutely nothing past there. Both of these concepts make your mind want to implode, amirite?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

True, but those aren't the only two options. Imagine we're on a piece of paper, ie two dimensions. It could be an infinite size or a finite size, as per your examples. But it could also be a sphere. We're on the surface of that sphere and if we walk far enough, we end up back where we started.The idea of something curving up or down would make no sense to a creature who knows only forward, backward, left and right, so the idea of a fourth spatial dimensions would make no sense to us, since we only know three, with the fourth being temporal. In addition, there is a 'Wall' that we can see. The Wall is the number or light years the of the universe's age in years, minus the time it took for the microwave background to disperse. The Wall is visible because the photons reaching us from so far away are form when the universe was filled with microwaves, thus effectively opaque. There may be space beyond that, but we cannot see it because light takes a time to reach us.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

If the universe were a sphere, it would be finite. I actually had this idea while listening to the song Third Planet by Modest Mouse. One of the lyrics goes "The universe is shaped exactly like the Earth - if you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were". (Note I'm not trying to argue with you, in fact I agree with and really think your opinion is interesting.)

by Anonymous 11 years ago

It's not really mine. It's from one of my science books, and the only one that makes sense to me.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

I'll have to consider it as a theory.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

? It is a theory. Unless you can prove it by experimentation to make it a law or a truth, it willl always be a theory.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

No need to go about scientific procedure. I mean for myself to consider it as a theory I believe.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Ah. I thought you meant you meant it's a theory and nothing more, because you believe something else.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Haha, nope. I try really hard to not let my beliefs interfere with facts. I can see you do that too. It's a good quality to have.

by Anonymous 11 years ago

There have been theories about the universe and how it could be a hypersphere or several other four dimensional shapes. And of course there's no walls, because the universe is endlessly expanding.

by Anonymous 11 years ago