What Happens When Galaxies Die?

“galaxy harassment” – interesting concept in that first vid

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In that last vid — i liked this question — ‘the Universe is expanding into what?’

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zn wrote:

wv wrote:

In that last vid — i liked this question — ‘the Universe is expanding into what?’

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It doesn’t have to be expanding INTO something.

According to big bang theory, space and time are themselves effects of the bang. So an expanding universe just means space gets bigger, as opposed to there being absolutely nothing.

Okay, but if it’s getting bigger–and there’s nothing for it to expand INTO—HOW does it get bigger? If I put a balloon in a small box and pump air into it, it can only get so big before it bursts. If it’s not in the box–it can get bigger just fine because there is space to grow.

But if there is space in some sense or another to grow–then WHAT is that space?

zn wrote:

PA Ram wrote:

Okay, but if it’s getting bigger–and there’s nothing for it to expand INTO—HOW does it get bigger?

Space is an effect of the big bang. Space expands. It banged into existence out of nothing. So all that happens is that more space expands and the nothing is irrelevant.

To think it is “inside” something is a spatial way of looking at it. But you can’t do that since space–meaning, precisely, the 3 dimensions of existence–is itself a result of the big bang.

So the problem is conceptual.

To think of space as being inside something is to think of space as expanding…inside another space.

But there IS NO “other space.” The only space we get is the space created when the universe is created.

And there is only being INSIDE of the space of the universe. There’s no outside, just nothing.

It’s all a bit too “zen” for me to wrap my mind around. It’s just one of those things I’ll never really get. I accept the weirdness of it all. I certainly accept the science of it. But I’ll never have a comfortable understanding of it. My mental ability just isn’t expanding enough, and that’s too bad because I have plenty of space in my cranium.

wv wrote:

zn wrote:

wv wrote:

In that last vid — i liked this question — ‘the Universe is expanding into what?’

w
v

It doesn’t have to be expanding INTO something.

According to big bang theory, space and time are themselves effects of the bang. So an expanding universe just means space gets bigger, as opposed to there being absolutely nothing.

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Well i understand the concept, but i dont like it.

I mean, the concept of ‘nothing’ does not resonate in my brain.

‘Nothingness.’ Maybe there is ‘something’ in that ‘nothingness’ and science just cant conceive of it yet.

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The issue is the concept of “inside.” “Inside” is a spatial term. But that would put the space of the universe inside another, different space. The problem is that space is itself an effect of the big bang, and exists because of it. Space is a RESULT of the big bang. So there can’t be a spatial locality outside of space itself.

It amounts to this.

Our brains are hard-wired to grasp 3-dimensional physics. We know how far to jump, we know up v. down, and so on. It’s common sense to us.

We are not brain and nervous-system programmed to GET “nothing.”

Once you leave the ordinary programming of common sense experience, then, you have to just simply rely on pure abstract concepts. “Nothing” is a pure abstract concept.

So we just have to intellectually accept that space is space and what isn’t in that space is nothing, so that the space of the universe is just EXPANDING…it’s not expanding inside or into something. It’s just a simple opposition. On the one side, space and expansion. On the other side, nothing. There’s no inside or outside to nothing. It’s just nothing.