[Bogie_smiles (OP)]

So, feel free to give some thought to the entirety of space and time, and give your opinion (actually post some specific conclusion you are willing to make) that can help us make sense of the possibility that there are an infinite number of possibilities at all times, under an infinite number of suns across unbounded space (given unbounded speculation of course).




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[Bogie_smiles (OP)]

In other words, the universe is the ultimate perpetual motion machine.

And does anyone agree that it has always been that way.  I suppose there are some who raise questions about using the word "always" in reference to the universe; and I might add, in reference to an infinite universe that has always existed.

Maybe some members think of the universe as having come from nothingness.  Maybe self-generated by an empty void? 

Maybe, given an infinite past, someone posits that our universe today came from nothing, no space or time or energy?

I don't think so .            Do you?




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[Bogie_smiles (OP)]

However, over a couple of hundred million years, I could imagine that the matter and energy, and their chemistry together, could combine in advantagous ways, to allow life to emerge. And given enough of those places across the universe, circumstances like we have on Earth could arise, and if so, well, here we are, lol.




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[Halc]

I don't think there is much question about it; the universe has always existed and there have been big bangs going on, here and there, across all of that infinite space and infinite time.

Oddly enough, I agree with that.

So I don't have any trouble using "infinite and eternal" as two of the main descriptors of the universe; let's say the pillars of infinity, i.e., no beginning, no possibility of an end to it all, and really no way of knowing the truth/reality of it all.

And that as well. The position is a philosophical one, and as such, there is by definition no way of knowing the truth/reality of it.

... no way of knowing the truth/reality of it no end to finite patches of life in a potentially infinite number of places across all of that space and time.

Entropy kind of has other ideas about that one.

[Halc]

Making a lot of posts today, no?  Living for that number on the bottom perhaps?

So, feel free to give some thought to the entirety of space and time, and give your opinion (actually post some specific conclusion you are willing to make) that can help us make sense of the possibility that there are an infinite number of possibilities at all times, under an infinite number of suns across unbounded space (given unbounded speculation of course)

OK.  There seems to be a finite number of possible configurations of things.  Sure, the universe is largely considered to be infinite in expanse, so given the finite configurations, they have no choice but to be repeated, which means there's exact copies of us (not just you, since the copy would not be exact without everybody else being copied as well) some finite distance away, a distance that has been computed.

In other words, the universe is the ultimate perpetual motion machine.

Sort of.  Things in motion tend to slow, but never actually stop.  After a while they stop being 'things' anymore, and radiation doesn't stop, its energy just fades away.

Maybe some members think of the universe as having come from nothingness.  Maybe self-generated by an empty void?

I suppose some might. Not many members here, so reasonable chance that none of the active ones would support that.

[Bogie_smiles (OP)]

I don't think there is much question about it; the universe has always existed and there have been big bangs going on, here and there, across all of that infinite space and infinite time.

Oddly enough, I agree with that.

So I don't have any trouble using "infinite and eternal" as two of the main descriptors of the universe; let's say the pillars of infinity, i.e., no beginning, no possibility of an end to it all, and really no way of knowing the truth/reality of it all.

And that as well. The position is a philosophical one, and as such, there is by definition no way of knowing the truth/reality of it.

... no way of knowing the truth/reality of it no end to finite patches of life in a potentially infinite number of places across all of that space and time.

Entropy kind of has other ideas about that one.

My way of thinking about entropy is that it is .......... bounded, periodic, repeats, etc, probably over lengthly time frames and unimaginably large but finite patches of the greater universe. And any finite patch of space is....  almost nothing, almost nowhere, almost never, relative to the infinite.




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[Bogie_smiles (OP)]

The whole forum has had a recent jump in activity. Who knows the explanation for that, or is it my imagination?




445504,459836,474067,

[Halc]

The whole forum has had a recent jump in activity. Who knows the explanation for that, or is it my imagination?

You did notice. It seems to be a bot attack originating from Asia

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=87399.0;topicseen

[Bogie_smiles (OP)]

The whole forum has had a recent jump in activity. Who knows the explanation for that, or is it my imagination?

You did notice. It seems to be a bot attack originating from Asia

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=87399.0;topicseen

It looks like things are back in order.  Still higher activity though. Lets give it a chance to normalize, and then pick back up on the "entropy" topic :shrug:


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