View Single Post
  #8   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 15-07-2005, 12:12
KenWittlief KenWittlief is offline
.
no team
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 4,213
KenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond reputeKenWittlief has a reputation beyond repute
Re: are we alone in the universe?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain
...and yet despite all these odds i pose to you that the universe as i come to understand it is infinite (or at least REALLY (i feel that it truly deserves a capitol really) big and im talking of space not matter and we also assume theres only one big bang) and so there are probably an uncountable number of worlds with life.
I agree with your conclusion that we will never find life anywhere

but I do want to comment, in science and engineering infinity is not a real number. you will never end up with an equation or measure a parameter or characteristic in the real world where one of the numbers is infinity.

there are websites that explain how scientists calculated the number of atoms in the universe. the number is big, but its not infinity.

just as you can sit on a beach and count the grains of sand in a cubic centimeter of the waterline, and then calculate how many grains of sand there are on that whole beach, it is also possible to calculate how many atoms there are in the universe.

and space itself is not infinite. I know this sounds like nonsense, but empty space and time itself did not exists before the big bang, and empty space did not immediately spring into existance everywhere at the big bang. Empty space and time do not exist outside the boundary of the expanding universe.

Its almost impossible to comprehend that, but this is what modern physics tells us.
Reply With Quote