Wei Dai wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 04, 1999 at 09:25:11PM -0700, hal@rain.org wrote:
If the universe is not infinite, what is it that lays infinitely beyond it?
I put forward that beyond our universe is absolute vacuum with no light, and
beyond that approximately infinitely more universes in various stages of
expansion and contraction. Similarly to how we might astronomically observe
protostars forming and supernovae, perhaps somewhere right now a new universe
is experiencing its Big Bang, and another is contracting to either a super
black hole or a proto-universe to explode again.
> > But isn't the conventional model of the universe, if we assume that it
> > is spatially open and unbounded, in exactly this form?
>
> The conventional model does have a prefered position, namely the Big
> Bang.
>
> > Would you suggest that, on philosophical grounds, we have evidence that
> > the universe cannot be infinite (without preferred positions)?
>
> Yes.
Infinity, i, or oo, is a scalar number increase without bounds in one dimension. Infinity, I, is i in i dimensions.
Ross F.
-- Ross Andrew Finlayson 202/387-8208 http://www.tomco.net/~raf/ "C is the speed of light."