From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Fri Jan 25 2002 - 10:59:46 MST
Re: virus: One for the Croc Hunter on Space. JoeDees. Thu 2002/01/24 07:24
[JoeDees wrote]
<quote>
Actually, we have the evidence of the microwave radiation from the Big Bang
that
tells us that the universe is between 12 and 14 billion years old. Multiply
this by
the maximum expansion quotient of the universe subsequent to the Big Bang
(the
speed of light - around 186, 286 mps), and we can not only see that the
universe
is finite, but estimate its maximum circumference. The reach of the
microwave
radiation, btw, as a part of the universe, is equal to the reach of the
whole, the
universe in toto.<quote>
[Blunderov]
This is very bad news. I cannot grasp that the universe might be finite. I
have tried to think of it as:the Universe is a set, U, with itself, u, as
the sole member. This was not a big help. I cannot withstand the idea that
there <em>must<em> be something on the other side of that boundary. In my
experience of the world that's what boundaries do - they have one other
side.
By the data you have cited, the conclusion that "outside" the universe there
is "nothing" seems unavoidable, but the fact we <i>know<i> that there
<em>is<em> something,(existence, whatever it's actual nature)seems to
preclude the possibility of there being "nothing".
I read recently that a logician had proved that (sorry I can't find a
reference or remember the name off-hand) when dealing with sets that have
infinity as their characteristic, the law of the excluded middle falls away!
Something can be both true and not true!
Is there the remotest possibility that this could have something to do with
the universe?
Could the universe be both infinite and finite?
Blunderov
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