From: Nick Bostrom (bostrom@ndirect.co.uk)
Date: Mon Apr 05 1999 - 13:36:35 MDT
Wei Dai wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 04, 1999 at 09:25:11PM -0700, hal@rain.org wrote:
> > 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.
The Big Bang is a singularity but not really a position.
Immediately after the Big Bang, if the universe is open or flat, the
universe was spatially infinite. So if you assign number 1 to the Big
Bang, what spacetime point is number 2?
> > Would you suggest that, on philosophical grounds, we have evidence that
> > the universe cannot be infinite (without preferred positions)?
>
> Yes.
What are these grounds? (You referred to "various paradoxes"--which
ones do you have in mind?)
Nick Bostrom
http://www.hedweb.com/nickb n.bostrom@lse.ac.uk
Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics
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