Vast said:
I don’t see how that follows: Isn’t an expanding surface of a sphere finite and yet the points are moving away from each other?
At whatever moment of time you consider and regardless of the speed of the expansion the "next" increment of distance would not exist until the FOLLOWING moment.
And what is the universe "expanding" into except space which already exists?
If the universe was 'created' from a point of singularity then unless it expanded at an infinite rate or for an infinite amount of time, it must be finite in nature. It is; however, very simple to show the premise of creation is contrary to logic -
The existence of nothing ostensibly requires no justification, so most popular theories of Universal origin begin with a primal void. At the beginning of time a transformation must have occurred which brought forth the material presence of the cosmos. The
Theory of Singularity - or Big Bang - envisions a Universe cast from the bowels of some spontaneous cosmic eruption. But that would require the pre-existence of a spawning force - the very presence of which would violate the original assertion that nothing existed. And if all which exists was created, then whatever sired the Universe must, too, have been created by some predecessor which, in turn, must have been predated by a limitless procession of ancestry. The endless cycle of chicken-and-the-egg redundancy which results from any cause and effect approach to the enigma of existence implies no logical beginning.
Supernatural versions of creation sidestep the issue of redundancy by declaring that whatever created the Universe was not subject to the laws of nature. Of course when the rules of reality are suspended anything is possible, even the absurd. And if one such exemption can be conceded, so can others - without limit.
Conditions or states of being change during the process of cause and effect. But existence is not a condition or a state of being, it is the phenomenon of being, itself. Before something can change, before something can act or be acted upon it must first exist. And if being is required in order for change to occur then cause and effect is a function of existence. This is, of course, the antithesis of the premise that existence is a function of cause and effect - the product of creation.
If the existence of the universe is not the result of a nascent event, then why would you suppose it is expanding?
Given a finite number of moving particles randomly vectored at random velocities within a finite volume, eventually all collisions which could occur WILL occur - within a finite period of time. Many of those collisions may occur outside of the original volume, but they will still take place within a finite period and within a finite distance. Once all collisions have occurred, all particles will eventually reach the boundary of the initial volume and be moving away from each other.
It is small wonder the bodies within the infinitesimal portion of the Universe we can detect with our technology seem to be moving away from each other. The default assumption seems to be this is due to a 'ballooning' of the Universe from a point of singularity, but the above scenario explains the phenomenon equally as well.
