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Luciano Anastassiou

Friars School

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Is the universe finite or infinte.

The two scenarios in the debate:

The universe is infinte because numbers are infinite, and something that is finite cannot contain something that is infinite.
E.G a chocolate bar cannot contain infinite cocoa.

The universe is finite, it as a beginning and end, and there is no such thing as infinite numbers because the biggest number would be the amount of the smallest quanta contained in the universe.
E.G the amount of the smallest particle in the universe = the biggest number

These two are currently merged and I believe in modern day science they contradict each other.

Feel free to add more points to the discussion

Topics: Mathematics Reason & Logic The Universe philosophy physics religion
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    E G 10+

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    Aug 2 2011: does it matter?
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      Luciano Anastassiou

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      Aug 2 2011: Eduard, the same question has been asked about many things in history like "is the earth flat? - Does it matter?" and clearly it does. Well same with this scenario; in the future, it will matter A LOT if the universe is infinite or not, for example let's say a few thousand years from now or even sooner, some company decides they want to travel to the end of the universe. This would not be possible if it was infinite, and another thing is, imagine if we had fully understood wormholes and wanted to warp space-time and travel to another location, if the universe was infinite this would not be possible because every x, y, and z location in the universe would be ∞ (infinite) because it would stretch infinite metres (or whatever unit) in every direction which means we would have to use normal methods of travel which, on the scale of the universe, is very slow.
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        E G 10+

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        Aug 3 2011: Hmm ...... perhaps in the future will exist a reason for seeking to see if the universe is infinite or not , everything's possible, but now what matter in my opinion is: US, we now and here in our usual life .........anyway ........
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        Peter Law 30+

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        Aug 3 2011: Hi Luciano
        Modern science seems to think that the universe is expanding; largely due to red-shifted light. If it is expanding then it cannot be infinite. It's going to be bigger tomorrow.
        If it's not expanding then it may well be infinite.

        :-)

        • jeroen redegeld

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          Aug 18 2011: Expantion means there is more room between two existing objects. Space grows apart without adding to it. The wavefront of the big bang is still perpetuating.The universe grows & expands

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