the end of the universe

[Paz]

 That's deep man.

[Hagar]

Sorry if I appear sceptical but I gave this a lot of thought many years ago. I came to the conclusion that our Universe is so vast that no human being can ever explore a tiny proportion of it. Time & space are relative & what appears immense to us might be a tiny proportion of what is "out there". We simply don't know & never will. I'm reasonably intelligent but my brain is simply not capable of understanding something on this scale. If I thought about it long enough I could end up driving myself insane.

Nobody will ever know how our universe was created or how it will eventually end, if it does. Suppose my own theories were right? I have no way of proving it any more than anyone can disprove it so what good would it do? The greatest minds in the world like Einstein & Hawking can only propound theories. However reasonable or fantastic these might seem they will remain theories until they can be proven. This is the primary law of science. Proof is obviously impossible so it will remain a mystery. However interesting it might be to speculate I believe it's a complete waste of time when it can never be proven & there are so many things about our own tiny planet that we don't know about.

[Saitek]

It would appear as Paz pointed out that the world will end before the universe. I interpret that to mean that he thinks that the stupid human beings that live on it will destroy themselves first. If history was anything to go by in the 1940's and the useof atomic weapons that doesn't appear unlikely.  ::)

[Hagar]

It would appear as Paz pointed out that the world will end before the universe.

I don't think that was ever in doubt. If we don't end up destroying it ourselves (in the sense of making it uninhabitable) our sun will eventually die & our solar system with it. This will have little effect on the universe as a whole. Human beings are so arrogant that we still believe our pathetic little planet is the centre of the universe, just as our ancestors did.

[Omag 2.0]

The greatest minds in the world like Einstein & Hawking can only propound theories. However reasonable or fantastic these might seem they will remain theories until they can be proven. This is the primary law of science. Proof is obviously impossible so it will remain a mystery. However interesting it might be to speculate I believe it's a complete waste of time when it can never be proven & there are so many things about our own tiny planet that we don't know about.

Hmm... I can't say I agree on this one. I don't like the word impossible here. I'm not saying science will discover everything, but look how far we've come the last 2000 years. I agree there is billions of things we don't know yet, but I still think it would be a shame to abandon thinking about the start, evolution and end of our universe. You say the formed theories will never be prooven. It's just to complex... Than I wonder this. Ever since the ancient greek times, some people had this little theory that the earth was a sphere, and even rotated around the sun. Yet they could not actually proove this theory! Only thousands of years later, space-flight would give the ultimate proof about the shape of our world. ( forgetting the travellers who found there way around the globe for now, but you get my point). Yes, it may take time... lots of it... but never say it's impossible to (dis)prove these theories.

If we stop wondering about things like this, our flexible thinking will die out, our great breaktroughs would seize to happen, the evolution of our society would stop...

In my humble opinion!

[Hagar]

Hmm... I can't say I agree on this one. I don't like the word impossible here. I'm not saying science will discover everything, but look how far we've come the last 2000 years. I agree there is billions of things we don't know yet, but I still think it would be a shame to abandon thinking about the start, evolution and end of our universe. You say the formed theories will never be prooven. It's just to complex...

I might have used the wrong word Omag. I don't like impossible either. Improbable is better & it's certainly not likely in my lifetime. It's not the complexity but the sheer scale.

I don't think the human brain can comprehend what we're discussing here, the immense size of what we call the Universe. It's doubtful that we will ever be able to visit all the planets in our own solar system, let alone the closest system to ours which is something like 4 light years away. I'm told that some stars are so distant that by the time the light reaches us we are seeing them as they were billions of years ago. It's quite possible that we're looking at something that no longer exists. This is the scale we're talking about here.

[alrot]

Sorry if I appear sceptical but I gave this a lot of thought many years ago. I came to the conclusion that our Universe is so vast that no human being can ever explore a tiny proportion of it. .

Indeed! Yes the diameters of the universe are beyond our comprehention,but this doen't mean that there are different phisical law outta there,today the humand race has a priviledge to gather all the pieces and have a reasonable answer (the earth is not the center of it and it isn't flat),first we know for sure where the matter & ourselves came from,what we made of,we do not have to get insane just by studing and reading a little bit...The univer is composed by three ingredient HIDROGEN,HELIUM,AND THE DUST OF EXPLODING STARs,so all the rest of this inmense Universe

Believe or Not

[Hagar]

You asked for opinions & I'm simply stating mine. Nobody is forced to agree with me.

I have no objection to anyone studying this as much as they wish providing they don't expect me to believe what they tell me without proof. So far all we have are theories which could have some element of truth or be completely wrong. We can only relate to things we're familiar with. The scientific laws that fit our insignificant planet in our part of the Universe might not apply elsewhere. The 'Black Hole' concept was unknown only a few years ago & new theories required to explain it. Who is to say the currently accepted theory is correct? Not every scientist agrees with the "Big Bang" theory which is also relatively new & completely different to what I was taught at school. Maybe this explains my cynicism but the fact is that we simply don't know & are never likely to.

[quote]Big Bang Theory - The Only Plausible Theory?
Is the standard Big Bang theory the only model consistent with these evidences? No, it's just the most popular one.

Astrophysicist George F. R. Ellis explains: "People need to be aware that there is a range of models that could explain the observations... For instance, I can construct you a spherically symmetrical universe with Earth at its center, and you cannot disprove it based on observations.... You can only exclude it on philosophical grounds. In my view there is absolutely nothing wrong in that. What I want to bring into the open is the fact that we are using philosophical criteria in choosing our models. A lot of cosmology tries to hide that.

In 2003, Physicist Robert Gentry proposed an attractive alternative to the standard theory, an alternative which also accounts for the evidences listed above. Dr. Gentry claims that the standard Big Bang model is founded upon a faulty paradigm (the Friedmann-lemaitre expanding-spacetime paradigm) which he claims is inconsistent with the empirical data. He chooses instead to base his model on Einstein's static-spacetime paradigm which he claims is the "genuine cosmic Rosetta." Gentry has published several papers outlining what he considers to be serious flaws in the standard Big Bang model.

Other high-profile dissenters include Nobel laureate Dr. Hannes Alfv

[legoalex2000]

*sigh* those humans are so dumb...  ::)"

Ramos

[Souichiro]

I say.........


BOOOOOOMM!!!


We're dead


We'll see what happens....Maybe

[4_Series_Scania]

I went with the Nerds

[Paz]

[quote]It would appear as Paz pointed out that the world will end before the universe. I interpret that to mean that he thinks that the stupid human beings that live on it will destroy themselves first. If history was anything to go by in the 1940's and the useof atomic weapons that doesn't appear unlikely.

[Hagar]

I was thinking more along the lines of an astroid or comet hit, which may not physically destroy the planet but would pretty much wipe out all the living creatures that currently inhabit this world, just like the hit that destroyed the dinosaurs,

I'd better not give my opinion on that theory then.

[Saitek]

No-one knows why the dinosaurs died out. I am of the opinion that if that was the case everything else would have died - why just dinosaurs? What about rhinos, crocodiles and millions of other quite similar styled creatures?
I don't think a comit attack would be a problem - they'd be blasting all sorts into it to stop that happening (just as they did that probe into a comet recently - so it could be done).

Here's hoping...

[alrot]

[quote]