What Space Does the Universe Occupy?

  • Context: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter HailSagan
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Space Universe
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the question of what space the universe occupies, exploring the nature of the universe and its relationship to the concept of "outside" or "beyond" it. Participants engage with philosophical implications as well as scientific reasoning, considering both theoretical and conceptual aspects.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that the universe is not contained within anything, asserting that it is everything that exists and that there is no evidence for anything outside of it.
  • One participant expresses difficulty in understanding this concept and notes a potential shift from scientific inquiry to philosophical inquiry when considering the implications of the universe's boundaries.
  • Another participant suggests a recursive questioning approach, asking what would be outside the universe if it were contained within something, ultimately concluding that the sequence of containment likely stops at spacetime, which is suggested to be infinite.
  • A later reply acknowledges that the explanation provided makes the concept easier to grasp.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that the universe is not contained within anything else, but the discussion raises philosophical questions that remain unresolved, indicating a mix of scientific and philosophical perspectives.

Contextual Notes

The discussion touches on the limitations of current models and the philosophical implications of defining the universe's boundaries, but these aspects are not fully resolved within the conversation.

HailSagan
Messages
3
Reaction score
2
Greetings, all. Please forgive my ignorance, but this is a question which has been on my mind for many years:

What space does the universe occupy?

To clarify what I mean: I'm in a building which is in the city of Hillsboro, which is the county of Washington, which is in the state of Oregon, which is in the United States, which is on the North American continent, which is on earth, which is in our local solar system which is in the Milky Way Galaxy which is in the universe which is in...?

I realize there is likely no definitive answer to this question and likely that there never will be but does anyone who is more intelligent than I have any thoughts on this admittedly obscure question?
 
Space news on Phys.org
It isn't in anything. The universe is everything there is. More precisely, there's no evidence of anything outside it and all of our models work to remarkable accuracy on that basis.
 
Ibix said:
It isn't in anything. The universe is everything there is. More precisely, there's no evidence of anything outside it and all of our models work to remarkable accuracy on that basis.
Thank you for your reply. I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around this concept and would like to followup with further questions but I can't think of a way of doing it without leaving the realm of scientific inquiry and entering that of philosophical inquiry. That being the case, I'll leave it at my thanks for your reply.

PS: I see this thread was moved to a different sub-forum; apologies to the mods for posting in the wrong location.
 
Reply
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: berkeman
Well, look at it this way: if the universe is inside something, what's that inside? And what's that inside? And...? It's either turtles all the way down, or the sequence stops somewhere. As far as we're aware, the sequence stops at spacetime. And that's not unreasonable - our best models suggest that spacetime is infinite in extent, so it's kinda hard to have anything outside it.
 
Reply
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: russ_watters, Orodruin and HailSagan
Thank you, explaining it in that way makes it much to easier to grasp.
 
Reply
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Ibix

Similar threads

High School Big Bang and Infinite Universe
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
2K
High School Pressure on creation of the Universe
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
3K
High School What Would You See at the Edge of the Expanding Universe?
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
2K
Undergrad How Does Space Expansion Affect the Velocity of Galaxies?
  • · Replies 65 ·
3
Replies
65
Views
7K
High School Conflict between the conservation of matter and the rapid expansion of our universe
  • · Replies 18 ·
Replies
18
Views
1K
High School How did the universe start and evolve into what it is today?
  • · Replies 24 ·
Replies
24
Views
3K
Undergrad Why is the observed local region of space flat?
  • · Replies 25 ·
Replies
25
Views
3K
High School Clarification on how old the Universe is
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
3K
High School What does the Universe exapand into?
  • · Replies 27 ·
Replies
27
Views
2K
High School What is the Universe expanding into?
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
3K