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Ajdub18 · Aug 20, 2008, 01:19 am

Does the thought of the universe being infinite and ever expanding screw with your head to the point of a brain aneurysm? Can you really imagine something without boarders? Do you reach a point where you just hit a big black curtain? Whats on the other side of that curtain? Or maybe there is no "end" and it is just one big cycle? If it is a cycle, what is on the outside of that cycle?

Why cant I get out of this stinking three dimensional sense of reality...

Ouch..headache

**Jack** · Aug 20, 2008, 09:36 am

There's a lot in the field of physics that does that to me. That must be why ultimately such concepts are best expressed in mathematical terms. You just can't capture that level of reality using words or pictures.

Thanatos · Aug 20, 2008, 12:56 pm

It looks infinite but it probably isn't. Imagine an ant crawling along the inside of a beach ball. Being an ant its not prone to looking up and so all it sees is its corner of the beach ball. It can walk forever and eventually it would be back where it started.

Some theories have us inside a multidimensional beach ball where if we fly far enough in any of the three dimensions we'd be curving as we traveled in another dimension and arrive back coming the other way.

A few theories do have an actual "edge" in them, but they're not currently trendy. Here's an old article; the theory has been pretty much shot down. If the universe was this way there would be big reflective walls in the shape of a dodecahedron.

Is the universe a dodecahedron? - physicsworld.com

Aug 20, 2008, 01:19 am	#1 (permalink)
Ajdub18 Quantum Thinker Posts: 26	Infinite space Does the thought of the universe being infinite and ever expanding screw with your head to the point of a brain aneurysm? Can you really imagine something without boarders? Do you reach a point where you just hit a big black curtain? Whats on the other side of that curtain? Or maybe there is no "end" and it is just one big cycle? If it is a cycle, what is on the outside of that cycle? Why cant I get out of this stinking three dimensional sense of reality... Ouch..headache

Aug 20, 2008, 09:36 am	#2 (permalink)
Jack Inquisitor Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 17,897 Blog Entries: 70	There's a lot in the field of physics that does that to me. That must be why ultimately such concepts are best expressed in mathematical terms. You just can't capture that level of reality using words or pictures. The Forum Rules Radical Atheist Jeber's If we're all God's children, what's so special about Jesus?

Aug 20, 2008, 12:56 pm	#3 (permalink)
Thanatos Criminally Insane Location: New Orleans Posts: 2,758	It looks infinite but it probably isn't. Imagine an ant crawling along the inside of a beach ball. Being an ant its not prone to looking up and so all it sees is its corner of the beach ball. It can walk forever and eventually it would be back where it started. Some theories have us inside a multidimensional beach ball where if we fly far enough in any of the three dimensions we'd be curving as we traveled in another dimension and arrive back coming the other way. A few theories do have an actual "edge" in them, but they're not currently trendy. Here's an old article; the theory has been pretty much shot down. If the universe was this way there would be big reflective walls in the shape of a dodecahedron. Is the universe a dodecahedron? - physicsworld.com I think it goes without saying the any suggestion to invade Canada is mind-numbingly stupid.