Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

I agree with Fyron. The universe itself is not expanding. It's just the galaxies that are moving apart, and therefore it is just the observable portion of the universe whiich is expanding.

Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

The problem with sentience and the question of has anything else pondered this- is both are damn near impossible to negatively prove. Intelligence is not an on/off button.

Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">This is the single best and most conclusive answer to the arguement. The rest of you may sit down.

on a more serious and related note, the theory of dark matter is working on being disproven. entire models of the universe and what we know about it, may be based on faulty information and bad assumptions.

http://www.economist.com/science/dis...ory_id=2404626

I tend to plead agnosticism when it comes to questions like this, but honestly i enjoy believing that the universe is a product of its own imagination, and exists because it wills its self to. sort of like reality being a concentual halunination, but not quite.

Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

Experiment: To Prove Or Disprove The Reality Of A Brick Wall

Ingredients: One Brick Wall, One Right Leg(Attached To Researcher), One Right Shoe(On Right Foot, Right Foot Attached To Right Leg), One Researcher

Plan: Propel Right Shoe Until It Impacts Brick Wall, By Means Of Muscles In Right Leg.

Prediction: Unable To Acertian. Brick Wall, Right Shoe, Right Foot, Right Leg Or Researcher May Be Hallucination, Delusion, Illusion Or Real.

Observation: Felt Right Shoe Impact Against Brick Wall, Impact Travelled Through Right Foot, Up Right Leg And Into Rest Of Researcher.

Conclusion: Unable To Draw Any Conclusion. Pain May Be Hallucination, Delusion, Illusion Or Real. Don't Care Anymore. Going To Soak Right Foot. OWW!

[ February 11, 2004, 05:43: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">There is a huge difference between intelligence and sentience. There are plenty of highly intelligent non-human animals that do not show any signs of sentience.

Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

There is no way to know for sure whether another creature on earth has pondered the universe and what lays beyond it. We like to think that only us humans are sentient and therefore special, but how do we know that, say, a dog isn't sentient? We can't get into the dog's mind and know what it's thinking.

Well, actually, I must admit that I'm not entirely sure what "sentient" means. I only learned that word in that Star Trek episode where Data had to defend his rights to be equal to a living being. Data had to be intelligent, self-aware, and sentient. So "sentient" is not the same thing as "self-aware". I guess it means something like having consciousness, but I'm not sure.

Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I agree. I also still maintain that stating that an infinite void exists outside the universe is also silly. Nobody knows. IT IS JUST IDLE SPECULATION - A GUESS. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Actually it is more than just a guess... it too is based on logical reasoning. Also, the two things are completley unrelated. One can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, the other can not be. Apples and oranges.

Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

Existence Of Apples And Oranges Provisionally Accepted After Intense Experience Of What May Be Hunger Pains.

Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

I don't think that the universe will cease to exist when the Last human dies. Because there's a lot of evidence that the universe existed for a long time before the first humans appeared, we know the universe can exist without humans.

Re: OT: What is the Universe Expanding into?
 

Unless, of course, that is all part of the illusion...