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Title: Is the Universe Infinite?
Added: Nov 23, 2010
Author: SpaceRip
Duration: 23:54
Description:
Watch this and other space videos at http://SpaceRip.comExplore the biggest question of all... in 1080p. How far do the stars stretch out into space? And what's beyond them? In modern times, we built giant telescopes that have allowed us to cast our gaze deep into the universe. Astronomers have been able to look back to near the time of its birth. They've reconstructed the course of cosmic history in astonishing detail.From intensive computer modeling, and myriad close observations, they've uncovered important clues to its ongoing evolution. Many now conclude that what we can see, the stars and galaxies that stretch out to the limits of our vision, represent only a small fraction of all there is. Does the universe go on forever? Where do we fit within it? And how would the great thinkers have wrapped their brains around the far-out ideas on today's cutting edge? For those who find infinity hard to grasp, even troubling, you're not alone. It's a concept that has long tormented even the best minds.Over two thousand years ago, the Greek mathematician Pythagoras and his followers saw numerical relationships as the key to understanding the world around them. But in their investigation of geometric shapes, they discovered that some important ratios could not be expressed in simple numbers.Take the circumference of a circle to its diameter, called Pi. Computer scientists recently calculated Pi to 5 trillion digits, confirming what the Greeks learned: there are no repeating patterns and no ending in sight.The discovery of the so-called irrational numbers like Pi was so disturbing, legend has it, that one member of the Pythagorian cult, Hippassus, was drowned at sea for divulging their existence. A century later, the philosopher Zeno brought infinity into the open with a series of paradoxes: situations that are true, but strongly counter-intuitive.In this modern update of one of Zeno's paradoxes, say you have arrived at an intersection. But you are only allowed to cross the street in increments of half the distance to the other side. So to cross this finite distance, you must take an infinite number of steps.In math today, it's a given that you can subdivide any length an infinite number of times, or find an infinity of points along a line. What made the idea of infinity so troubling to the Greeks is that it clashed with their goal of using numbers to explain the workings of the real world.To the philosopher Aristotle, a century after Zeno, infinity evoked the formless chaos from which the world was thought to have emerged: a primordial state with no natural laws or limits, devoid of all form and content.But if the universe is finite, what would happen if a warrior traveled to the edge and tossed a spear? Where would it go? It would not fly off on an infinite journey, Aristotle said. Rather, it would join the motion of the stars in a crystalline sphere that encircled the Earth. To preserve the idea of a limited universe, Aristotle would craft an historic distinction.On the one hand, Aristotle pointed to the irrational numbers such as Pi. Each new calculation results in an additional digit, but the final, final number in the string can never be specified. So Aristotle called it "potentially" infinite. Then there's the "actually infinite," like the total number of points or subdivisions along a line. It's literally uncountable. Aristotle reserved the status of "actually infinite" for the so-called "prime mover" that created the world and is beyond our capacity to understand. This became the basis for what's called the Cosmological, or First Cause, argument for the existence of God.
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Channel: Shows
Tags: universe space infinity black holes einstein galileo hawking cantor aristotle plato archimedes zeno greeks mathematics astronomy cosmology copernicus galaxies inflation big bang hubble guth nasa esa aliens hotel infinite monkey theorum paradox stars antimatter cosmic cosmos pi consciousness ovni shuttle ufo ufos philosophy earth moon planet
universe space infinity black holes einstein galileo hawking cantor aristotle plato archimedes zeno greeks mathematics astronomy cosmology copernicus galaxies inflation big bang hubble guth nasa esa aliens hotel infinite monkey theorum paradox stars antimatter cosmic cosmos pi consciousness ovni shuttle ufo ufos philosophy earth moon planet
Youtube Comments: 5330
migol1984 Says:
May 27, 2012 - even if reincarnation occurred... where then does our consciousness roam to and to what purpose? there is no real sense of purpose other than to just play your role, learn, eat, sleep, be as happy as you possibly can and then you die. that's it. the journey may have been nice, but the journey meant nothing. this idea of reincarnation also wouldn't mean anything if i can't remember my former self. it really doesn't mean a single thing to me now, and won't mean anything to whoever i am then.
jeremylew416 Says:
May 27, 2012 - @migol1984 Like I said before, the purpose of life is to learn and to pass it on to future generations. Would you say whoever invented the wheel's life held no meaning? Of course not, because their invention is one of the greatest inventions ever and is still used to this day. Who knows, maybe you're the one who invented the wheel or maybe you were Plato and now the knowledge you passed down has enlightened you now.
migol1984 Says:
May 27, 2012 - yes, learn and pass it on, i get that. but you're not seeing it in the greater scope of things. go watch lawrence krauss "a universe from nothing" and he takes issue with this very thing i'm talking about only he says it more bluntly "life isn't so special". i don't agree with his views on life either, i'm just not surprised that a physicist like him would see life the way i'm explaining it. simply put, everything that i pass on to next generations wouldn't meaning anything
migol1984 Says:
May 27, 2012 - and maybe everything passes on to stardusts until another star forms giving way to maybe another planet that gives life to another greater more intelligent being and on towards infinity, yada yada yada. it doesn't mean anything to me and probably not to the universe either. the universe just is, with no purpose and no knowledge that you and i are here discussing the very nature of its course. if it had a brain it probably not know what to think of it, then slip into another infinite sleep.
migol1984 Says:
May 27, 2012 - even the wheel's life means nothing because at some point there will be nobody to use that wheel. it serves to some purpose to serve as a luxury while we're alive and well, but in the grander scope of things the wheel is irrelevant. that's how i'm tempted to see life if the universe has no purpose for us. we are infinitesimally irrelevant.
jeremylew416 Says:
May 27, 2012 - @migol1984 Stop focusing on death. If you're focused on death then you're not focused on life ajd if you're not focused on life then you're not enjoying it. All I can tell you is that there is a meaning to life and that meaning is to learn about life and to enjoy it. If you can't see past death then you are doomed to disappointment.
migol1984 Says:
May 27, 2012 - you're not getting it. yes, i am enjoying life. and no i am not focused on death, in fact, i welcome death. i see death as my real self giving birth. but that's me and for another time. what i'm saying is that if the universe holds no purpose for myself, i am tempted to think that way. and don't just look at me, go ask woody allen. all his films talk about this very thing.
JessAlexanderD Says:
May 27, 2012 - Possibly itself or maybe even other universes.
9000sw Says:
May 28, 2012 - Half life 3
xbox360tipper Says:
May 28, 2012 - You are partially right. There is a finite amount of stars, planets, asteroids and energy which is in a somewhat spherical shape. There is believed to be an "invisible wall" which is not permeable, like a bubble for instance. We will never know for sure what is at the "edge" of space because even if we could harness the most ferocious fuel known to man Anti-Matter it would still take hundreds of thouasands of millions of light-years to reach the "edge" despite that we could travel the speed
xbox360tipper Says:
May 28, 2012 - Of light.
LoopheadInc Says:
May 28, 2012 - Does anyone remember the name of the theory where the universe is so big that it repeats itself?
Niwram Says:
May 28, 2012 - Why have people reported this comment?
BritonAgainstIslam Says:
May 28, 2012 - Hang on, it's almost certain that Universe had a beginning; the Big Bang. A theory for which there is considerable evidence. You're advocating the 'Steady State Theory' which was abandoned in the sixties!
jeremylew416 Says:
May 28, 2012 - @BritonAgainstIslam I never said there wasn't a big bang, there most certainly was, but where we disagree at is what happened before the big bang. I believe the universe existed before the big bang and there have been an infinite number of big bangs before ours. The universe has always existed, but it has always reset itself and somehow started over with big bang after big bang.
aydo15000 Says:
May 28, 2012 - Nothingness @_@
infinitestar123 Says:
May 28, 2012 - its not really an ending edge. its more of like everything gets infinitely smaller, but never stops. a reverse bell curve graph, if you will
CheyDevillier Says:
May 28, 2012 - cause its fucking ludicrous
CheyDevillier Says:
May 28, 2012 - The universe is expanding... that means if you back track enough, you will see it began at a finite point.
jeremylew416 Says:
May 28, 2012 - Yes, I know this, but the big bang doesn't have to be the start of the universe, it could have existed before the big bang as well. I've already explained this like 5 times already lol.
jeremylew416 Says:
May 28, 2012 - @CheyDevillier Yes, I know this, but the big bang doesn't have to be the start of the universe, it could have existed before the big bang as well. I've already explained this like 5 times already lol.
BigFurbyy Says:
May 28, 2012 - if the universe was a googleplex meters across, it would begin to repeat itself.
TransparentCinema Says:
May 29, 2012 - Good question, because they're twats.
theetrue Says:
May 29, 2012 - Not so sure about all that but I hear FSM has some compelling evidence there is a Purple Walrus is living inside Uranus. Go back to the house of god you were raised in and have the authority help you out understanding it. Anything else you want to say to me?
migol1984 Says:
May 27, 2012 - and in my opinion, enjoying the experience wouldn't mean anything if there is no purpose. even if i were reincarnated, it wouldn't mean anything. what does the universe care if that's the case? there is chance that a black hole could suck us all up, or a gamma ray consumes our ozone layer. what does the universe care? the universe would be an asshole in a sense, that it allowed us to be aware of these things only to consume us into eternal entropy all for nothing.