TED Conversations

Michael Klugemischa137@cox.net

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

If the universe is expanding - what is it expanding into?

what is THAT space called
and why isn't it part of the universe now?

+11
Share:

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.

  • thumb
    Jul 27 2012: If we perceive the Universe as an isolated system, if matter is expanding and increasing its entropy, what's contracting? Weird to give so much relevance to the behaviour of matter when matter is, actually, such a tiny portion of the Universe. The Phylosophy of the "Vacum structure" is an inspiring idea to look somewhere else for the driving forces of the Universe,
    at least that's what I think.
    • thumb
      Jul 28 2012: Our perception it what is contracting. I conceive of at sense-motive nature to phenomena in which deepening qualitative richness to persist from the inside out can be accounted for. This is a physical phenomenon, tied to a variable (like Euler's number), the expression of which is subjective by definition. I call this property of cumulative sensory depth 'significance', and its Couchy-like progression of signal elaboration I call solitropy.

      The more the universe drags behind reminders of all previous states and eras, the more significant each moment of time can potentially be. This is not mere negentropy from an unseen source, I'm suggesting instead a whole other way that entropy might be conjugated.

      Entropy in either a thermodynamic or information sense does not have a way of distinguishing desirable from undesirable outcomes, yet we do have this ability and value it very highly. It could be argued that other species of animals, and perhaps all entities rely on this to the same extent.

      With solitropy, (the universal promise of private experience), there is a difference between building up part a city and burning down a whole one, even though they may cost the same amount of energy and produce the same entropy. The clarity of that preference for quality of life and enjoyable experiences over meaningless chaos is what has not been understood yet in physics other than as a superficial function of human evolution.

      We have spent a centuries on the cold, hard facts of work. Now we need to appreciate the warm, soft fiction of play and how it pertains to awareness.

      Think then, of a spinning top, slowing down as it rotates in space, but subjectively intensifying in our estimation the longer and faster and more perfectly or interestingly it spins. We get a story out of it, and the cost is that there is a little heat lost, some wear and tear...but the story or play is the purpose for the top in the first place. We know all about work but have failed to discover play
      • thumb
        Aug 5 2012: For the modern physicist dark matter is the 'constructive force' and dark energy is the 'destructive' force, but they are almost purely abstract concepts, with little empirical proof to support their existence. But they simply have to be there for the current model to work... Maybe the accepted model should be reviewed, but not to give birth to other abstract concepts, like with the super string theory.

        I share your your core premises: everything we perceive is Universe, so we can establish parallels between everything we know, every drop of knowledge needs to have a place within the unified theory of everything. The biological models must have deep ties with astronomy, sociology and psychology, music, art, anthropology, geology every subject should be integrated in the grand scheme of things.

        What are your thoughts about the quest for the 'god particle', the building block of everything?
        Don't you think it is an endless journey?
        • thumb
          Aug 5 2012: I agree that the discovery of the Higgs Boson, or of whatever Higgs-like phenomenon we think we have discovered, will only usher in another era of speculation and uncertainty about the building blocks of everything. As long as we have no theory of awareness, we are looking at a toy model of the cosmos and bending over backwards to make that model's nonsensical conclusions apply to anything other than mathematics.

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.