The Universe, What, How and Other Questions or should I just stick to science fiction?
The size, dimension of the known and/or unknown Universe I just cannot comprehend.
I know I’m not alone in that. People have been asking questions on this subject for a long time. And probably will be asking for a long time yet. And as for a definition . . . well can it be defined? What is it exactly? A collection of things (planets, galaxies, suns, nebulae, comets and living things etc) in a vacuum. There lies another question. Other lifeforms?. Sentient lifeforms? We have SETI. Fabled little green men from Mars. Our imagination is rife. Although, even in our imaginations we still anthropomorphise largely when it comes to alien lifeforms. They don’t have to be carbon-based necessarily. There could be silicon-based life for example. Who knows?
But I digress. Back to “Big Picture”. The Universe. Why? How? What caused its being exactly? I know there was the “Big Bang” many millions of years ago. The cause of that well . . . I confess I don’t know. Was there a purpose there? An outcome? Questions aplenty. And what about black holes? The speculation and theory as to time travel and parallel universes? I digress again.
Big questions. Not enough answers yet.
We do know that it is governed by physics. On a scale so huge it is mind-boggling. And the fact that it is still expanding. And expanding in what?? Another question. Does that mean that the Universe is contained/inside something else. If so, the dimension of that unknown thing/container/object must be even bigger than the Universe itself. Again we are talking about mind-boggling dimensions and the distances involved.
Will we ever learn the answers to those questions?
Assuming there are answers to be had.
I know there are many indefinable concepts, perceptions, things that we encounter in our day-to-day lives but the dimension, size, function, purpose of the Universe is just one huge unknown.
The mind boggles . . .
Phil Threlfall
The Universe (that is the known universe) has zillions and zillions of galaxies and stars,
more than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of planet earth.,
The secret to travelling the voids will be unravelled with the warping of space … not travelling to the stars… but folding space ,,, and pulling the stars to us…. light years then takes a fraction of that timeframe.
Space can be folded… warped and pulled … like a table cloth …..in a weird sort of way.
This is only now becoming apparent.
Their may be parralell universes… or multidudes of universes … on and on and on
But the “lat eartth society”will tell you … that as SETI has found no life in the area scanned… then its void of life ….the area and frequency SETI scans is far less than infinitesmil… a mere ants droppings on Jupiter would be a comparison.
retepk replied
Thanks Phil. Yes we are all pondering the almost imponderable. You use a wonderful expression “mere ant droppings on Jupiter” – I think that is a fantastic analogy for our place in the Universe.
Cheers.
syd baker
Hey my friend, don’t hurt your head, I have a whacky cosmic theory, what if the REAL universe is not the one we can supposedly see from here? Even as a kid I believed in the Bag Universe, that this Earth and a lot of space around it is a kind of training zone, that it’s a school. That we live many many many lives in order to learn the meanings, find the answers, pass the tests, and explain ourselves as individuals in order to graduate, and only then will we be let out of the bag, at the rate of the individual’s Rite of Passage. In other words, what Earth science shows us, the staggering dimensions, the unexplainable phenomena, it’s all baby toys hanging over the crib. Once we go around that Corner, and look back, then we are answered, Earth and her playground are in a Bag, a no-fly zone, prep-school, summer camp, and the Best is yet to come!
retepk replied
Thanks Syd. I like your scenario/theory. I can’t wait to grow up and have everything revealed to me. I have been in the embryonic stage too long. I want to play with the real toys.
If I find my head spinning from thinking about these questions too long a dose of reality from the 6 o’clock news brings me back down to earth with a crunch.
Cheers.
Brian Towers
Most interesting thoughts Retepk. Infinity! That seems to be the one concept which we cannot comprenend. For something to have no beginning nor end (space and time) is beyound me and I suspect most others. As a kid I was told that the universe was probably as big as the furthest stars visible, but then I would get odd looks by asking ‘Yes, but what lies beyond its outer walls – we could go through a door in the wall and continue on forever, never coming to and end of space. Then it gets even more confusing when the ‘Brains’ tell us that perhaps if you venture out far enough you come back to where you started – which sounds like we are going around in circles, both physically and mentally.
After all these years I still can’t get the answers which might satisfy my curiosity. And another puzzle: if nothing can travel faster than the speed of light then how can the ‘Brains’ now tell us that in the first seconds after the BIG BANG the universe expanded at a far far great speed? And after all the difficulties in trying to understand our own universe they now tell us there are possibly 11 – or is that 13 – or is that infinate all occupying the same space. HELP!
retepk replied
Thanks Brian. Maybe the “brains” are, like the rest of us, lost in space, well perhaps a less so than the rest of us. But yes we mere Earthlings are asking these questions as to where, why, how do we fit in this thing we call the Universe. Something so immense, diverse and infinite.
Cheers.
Ove Bohnhorst
I am all with you on this all though a silicon-based life form would if burned also be carbon-based wouldn’t it? but what if there are other bases that we dont know about… a lot of maybes here but still a fav though ;))
...ove
retepk replied
Thank you very much Ove. Yes there could be, and I hope there is, other lifeforms other than carbon and silicon-based lifeforms. It will be great when SETI discovers other sentient life out there.
Cheers.
syd baker
A better dose is a good scifi novel, dreamers aren’t we all, and therein lies a giant step towards graduation!! Evening news is important to keep current, but after all, it’s “Bag News”
retepk replied
That is something I must do. I used to be an avid reader of books (of SF and horror genres) but lately I find I just don’t read books anymore. I’m probably not Robinson Crusoe on that one. Less watching of “Bag News” and more book (SF) reading.
Cheers mate.
owlspook
ah from the infinitesimally small to the incredibly immensely huge … what was there before the big bang? what caused the big bang? how big is space? can anything travel faster than the speed of light? how does one quantum particle know what another quantum particle is doing? what is gravity? does string theory er M theory describe the universe and beyond?
so many things, this and more, I’d love to have the difinitive answer to Every year that goes by my curiosity increases .. I want to know! lol …
retepk replied
Thank you very much Owlspook. You ask very interesting questions. I would like to think that we may get some of them answered in the near future. I am waiting for the scientific community to make that discovery that will reveal all, or at least some, to an inquiring world.
Cheers.
owlspook
what I’ve found is that there will always be more to learn (big smile) .. definitive answers are probably not possible (totally provable by experiment and observation)... BUT we still search for The Theory of Everything (grin) .. gravity is a stickler … yet what if gravity was a force that was spread across all the M-branes?
saw a tv show recently (science channel I think) about multi-universes …
lot of good videos on youtube … try here for a start (smile)
it’s all so fabulously interesting …. like exploring a new universe (grin)
rightasrain
I have special memories of sitting on the patio of our home and looking up at the stars and just quietly talking about it when I was little. Pointing out stars and planets and imagining what it was like up there. I was an avid astronomer in my own way, loved reading about space and rockets etc etc. Pictures of eg the Horse Nebula blew me away. All “growed up” I even loaned 2 telescopes a few years back and couldn’t get enough of Saturn and Jupiter. Last year I was in wonderment when the moon, Venus and Jupiter aligned. I’m glad I haven’t lost that innocence and wonder and imagination…. Who knows… Yes the mind boggles…
retepk replied
Thank you Rightasrain. I too have been fascinated by it all since I was young. It is an interest that we should, hopefully, never grow tired of. One of our favourite holiday destinations is an isolated country area that is dark enough at night to view the panoply of stars and planets spectacularly with binoculars.
Cheers.