Are there any believable theories as to what actually lies beyond our universe?

Question

I'm not talking about parallel universe here, I mean what lies beyond the beyond? I know this is pure speculation, but I haven't heard of a logical theory out there. I know this is also one of those questions that is probably unanswerable, but why can't our brains wrap around infinity..........or nothingness?

Answer 1

You can believe what ever you like. Believable doesn't mean real or true. Playing with mathematics can enable the exploration of bazaar theories and suppositions. So, that does not make them true.

In fact people don't want to believe how big the universe is. Since the Hubble Space Telescope, the size of the observed Universe has increase dramatically.

Do you have any idea about how big it is? There is no need for multi-verses or parallel universes. The Universe as it is, is far larger than was theorized before the Hubble's discoveries.

It is just hard for the human mind to believe that the universe actually goes on forever. Infinity and forever are words that people say and can not comprehend. In our disbelief, we seek a way out, an answer that is logical, understandable, more in the scale of human endeavor, at least as seen in science fiction.

Really try to consider the ramifications of this news item:
"The HUDF field contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies in a patch of sky in the constellation Fornax, a region just below the constellation Orion, that appears in an area of the sky that appears largely empty if observed by ground-based instruments. The image is about one-tenth the diameter of the full moon and took Hubble one million seconds to take. To cover the entire sky with such detail would take the HST one million years, astronomers said."

I am not sure if the 1 million years includes the time it takes to set up the HST before it actually start the pictures, so let's just assume a 10% 'set-up' time. ok. 900,000 years divided by 1 million second exposure times 10,000 galaxies per exposure... wait a sec while my univac burns out a few vacuum tubes... wooo... 2.83824E+17 galaxies - in the black part of the sky that is too far away for ANY galaxies to be visible from ground based telescopes. This means that there are 2.83824E+17 galaxies that are so far away, that they can not even be seen from Kit Peak.

Sooo, the universe that we can see with the HST is beyond human belief or comprehension. ... Consider this: If you were using a HST and lived in one of those galaxies and looked in the same direction, that is, beyond the galaxy seen by Earth's HST, you would discover that there were 2.83824E+17 galaxies out there that nobody knew about.. And if you were on one of those far galaxies... etc etc etc. That is what forever, and infinite mean.

;-D There may be 2.83824E+17 planets with life, with intelligence, with beautiful girls on them, or there may only be one. Either way, it is unbelievable.

Answer 2

The best theory we have right now to explain the beginning of our universe is the Inflationary Theory. There is a very good book on it called "The Inflationary Universe" by Alan Guth, one of the theory's main developers.

One interesting implication of this theory is that what we know as the observable universe is, in fact, an almost infinitessimal piece of a much, MUCH larger universe (by many large orders of magnitude) spawned by the same "big bang" event that gave rise to the universe we see around us. This is due to the fact that during the inflationary period very early in our universe's history, the universe expanded orders of magnitude faster than the speed of light. As a result, when the expansion slowed down to light-speed or sub-light-speed, parts of our universe were already separated by such vast distances that they will never come into contact with other parts. (That is, light from one part will never be seen by the others, & vice versa.)

Now this gets a bit tricky because the farther out into space we look, the farther back in time we're looking. The universe is about 13.7 billion years old, so it is theoretically impossible for us to ever see anything more than 13.7 billion light-years away. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't anything farther away than that. In all likelyhood, there is--more universe, probably much like ours in terms of physical laws & composition. We'll simply never be able to travel to it, see it, or otherwise make contact with it, because it's beyond our event horizon.

That's right, event horizon. Our _visible_ universe is, in effect, like an inside-out black hole! We're on the inside, but we can't see out.

On top of all that, portions of our universe far beyond our event horizon (far, FAR beyond...) are quite likely still expanding much faster than the speed of light. This means that our total universe is continuing to grow unimaginably bigger every fraction of a second. It may be, for what the human mind can comprehend, essentially infinite in size, growing _exponentially_ larger each second.

I highly recommend checking your local libraries for "The Inflationary Universe." It is detailed, but still written at a layman level. The book explains why & how Inflationary Theory is a perfect fit to explain our universe, and then goes into some of the utterly amazing implications of the theory.

For another view on what may lie outside our (visible) universe, check out the 2nd link below. Once there, click on the "Imagining the Ten Dimensions" link on the left side, and turn on your speakers. This is a guided tour through the higher dimensions and really fun to try and wrap your mind around!

Answer 3

The theory of a multiverse is the only credible one I've read about. Scientific American had a great article on it awhile back. Basically the premise is that our universe is part of a larger "multiverse" of many universes (not parallel universes, but actually completely seperate and distinct universes).

Also check out Wikipedia's entry on the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse_%28science%29

Answer 4

The String Theory suggest that there are as many as eleven dimensions. We are locked in a three dimensional universe(or four if you include time as the fourth dimension.) The theory suggests that there are other membranes or Branes intersecting with our universe but we can't see past the length, width and depth of the three dimensional universe we live in.

Answer 5

I do not suppose that the human brain is capable of answering this one. Main reason behind this is that the brain is programmed to learn from experience only and going beyond the universe is something that can never be experienced.

Answer 6

More universe, then more, then more .. .and more ... and more ...

Actually it's a finite space but in 4D. So the easiest way to think of it is think of the surface of a balloon... and then imagine that surface being 3D instead of 2D.

I know, doesn't help me either. Just don't try to wrap your poor head around infinity, it'll win every time.

Answer 7

there is some theory that this universe is possibly just one of many
way too hard to get my head around.
multiple big bangs and the like

Answer 8

I think we should call "believable" the existence of many other universes set in different space-times, but we have no proof of that.

Answer 9

its like teaching a dog to speak english. you cant think of these things or you will explode