Space-Time Fabric: Is There Anything Beyond?

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The discussion explores the concept of space-time as a fabric or balloon, questioning what exists beyond it. Some scientists propose that space-time may resemble a fluid rather than a fabric, emphasizing that the "fabric of spacetime" is merely a visual aid for understanding complex four-dimensional curved manifolds. The analogy of living in a three-dimensional space highlights the difficulty in conceptualizing what lies beyond our known dimensions. Ultimately, the question of what is beyond space-time may be unanswerable, reflecting the limitations of human perception. The conversation underscores the challenges in visualizing higher dimensions and the nature of reality.
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If space-time looks like a piece of fabric (or an inflating balloon, in the inflation analogy) what is on the other side of the fabric?
Or does space-time not look like a piece of fabric at all...? Like some scientists are suggesting that it is a fluid...?
 
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The "fabric of spacetime" is a visual aid, nothing more. It's just that people have a hard time visualizing four dimensional curved manifolds, so it helps to break things down a little.

Imagine that you lived in a purely three dimensional cartesian space, such as R_3, and one day someone asked you what was on the other side. It's not really a question you can answer.
 

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