On 5/26/2011 7:39 PM, Michael Torrie wrote: > On 05/26/2011 07:32 PM, S. Dale Morrey wrote: >> Thoughts? > For the Jakes on the list, do cosmologists agree that the universe is > not infinite in size? Just wondering. While my own personal religious > beliefs accommodate almost all of science currently, from some sort of > big bang to evolution, it does not handle an infinite universe and its > implications. For an infinitely-sized universe means there's another > earth just like ours out there, with another Stuart, though he's a Tea > Party advocate there. > While I don't speak for any cosmologists or physicists or the like, I will say that the definition of "infinite" and how we might perceive such a thing in relation to how we perceive the universe currently, is in my opinion a much more important thought than the answer to "is the universe infinite" could ever provide. It's like asking "does the universe go on forever?" What exactly are you measuring in the answer for "forever" when that is an ambiguous concept based on our own limited perceptions of how space might be laid out at the current time?
I'm not judging you for the question, mind you, as its a perfectly valid question to have. I'm just saying that asking a metaphysical question won't help reconcile physics with metaphysics any more readily than contemplating the sandwich I had for lunch might, so it might be more important to ask why the question matters to you than actually getting the answer to such a question. -Tod Hansmann /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
