You Are the Centre of the Universe

[John]

If the universe is a thick expanding shell, like a nutshell that you would get after any explosion, and if light going in any direction inside the thick shell is bent or bounces off the inner and outer "walls" of the shell, and the light starts to curve around the shell it would look infinite, but it would be finite.

Nothing which exists can be infinite. Nothing which has a value can be infinite. But if it is an expanding shell, light will be able to travel around the shell infinitely; and every rotation of light around the shell is a different look, because the shell existed in a different place in time and a different place in absolute space.

If you are in a shell looking directly at the inner or outer surface, the light would not know to bounce one way or the other to go on around the shell, and so there would be a different look if you are looking directly into center or directly out to the edge. We know the universe has a bipolar look to it, and this bipolar look is what convinces me it is a normal expanding shell from a typical explosion, which has a center but we cannot look into the center; we can only look around and around and around the shell.

 

[Chronos]

Can I take the unstated option D] ? All of the above?

Yes. Add any or all of the above to the possibilities. Point well taken.

 

[Chronos]

My bad, please post the observational evidence in support of your conclusion. I gave mine.

 

[pmb_phy]

Assumption #1: The universe began 13.7 billion years ago as a point at a specific location relative to the current position of Earth that expanded.

This claim is inconsistent with general relativity. It did not begin at a specific location.

Assumption #3: Earth is not at the original 'center' of the universe.

Not a meaningful statement since nothing was at the center because that is a meaningless term in cosmology.

Postulate: If you happen to look in the direction opposite the original 'center' of the universe, you will see fewer and less remote galaxies than when you look toward the original 'center'.

Inconsistent with assumption #2, i.e. the homogeneity of the universe. You left out the isotropy of the universe. The postulate of the homogeneity and isotropy of the matter in the universe is called the cosmological principle.

Observational evidence: There is no statistically significant 'hole' or 'clumping' in the distribution of galaxies at any distance in any direction.

While this is true it does not prove your assumption.

Nothing which exists can be infinite.

Not according to general relativity and modern cosmology. If the cosmological principle is correct and the universe is flat then there is an infinite amount of matter in the universe

If the universe's size is infinite now, it cannot expand later, because the distance of the boundary now automatically encompasses where the boundary will be later, based on definition.

You're basing size on location of a boundary and under no conditions can a boundary exist. An expanding infinite universe is a universe of infinite spatial extent for which the distances between galaxies is constantly increasing.

Pete

 

[chronon]

I just thought of this... I'm sure I'm wrong, somewhere, or there'll be a flaw in my logic, but here we go.

Assuming the universe is infinite in size, then the edge of the universe is infinitely far away from me in all directions.

If the edges of the universe are the same distance away from me in all directions - an infinite distance - then all points on the edge of the universe are equidistant from me.

Surely this means that I (and everyone else) can logically claim to be the centre of the universe?

<br /> 2+2+\infty=\infty=5+\infty<br />

<br /> \therefore 2+2=5<br />

 

[Chronos]

Assumption #1: The universe began 13.7 billion years ago as a point at a specific location relative to the current position of Earth that expanded.

This claim is inconsistent with general relativity. It did not begin at a specific location.

Quite correct, Pete. Demonstrating there is something fundamentally wrong with this assertion was my objective in doing this exercise.

 

[4newton]

To All:
All the views expressed here are in terms of a three-dimensional space. It is like trying to explain three-dimensional space using only two dimensions. The construct of the universe is four-dimensional at a minimum. The fourth dimension of the universe is the transition out from the Big Bang BB or our transition in the time dimension. Both have observational proof. And are one and the same.

The thickness of the universe is extremely thin. It can be no greater than we have been able to go forward or back in time. Some experiments that claim time shifting have times that are on the order of nanoseconds. All normal objects are therefore less than a nanosecond. All the spatial dimensions are therefore less than one nanosecond thick.

If the rate of transition outward from the BB is equal to the speed of light then you are only able to see one radian around the curve of space. Since expansion rates of distant objects are on the order close to the speed of light it is most logical that the transition rate outward from the BB is the speed of light. If the rate is slower than the speed of light you would be able to see objects more distant than the microwave background radiation to objects that are moving away on the opposite side of the BB.

It is most remarkable that nature has let man see himself as the center of the universe in so many ways.

 

[John]

That nanosecond value could be due to the distance between points of space.

Imagine space that is defined by points. Only the points are real, so between the points is a kind of hyperspace where another (finer, spiritual) universe could actually fit; not a whole universe between two points, but a whole univese dispersed between all the points of this one.

Also, think of being inside a circular hallway that has walls of curved mirrors on both sides. There are little points of light throughout the circular hallway. What would you see? It would look like you are in an infinite amount of space in all flat directions with lights close to you and lights very far away.