There should be space OUTSIDE our universe - according to basic reason and the options available.

My eccentric Science Fiction teacher, this semester, talked about how humans have understood our universe throughout time. Only recently, for example, was it discovered (by Albert Einstein) that the universe is expanding (and not a stagnant space).

My SF teacher also talked about how there must be space OUTSIDE our universe, which he explained in a book he wrote. Although I haven't read his book, he did explain the basic concept in class.

The universe is expanding into..."someplace". That "someplace" isn't certain.

One theory is that this "someplace" is actually a bigger or different universe from our own. So people who believe that there is another universe, either bigger or different from our own, may choose to accept this theory.

For those who don't believe there is a bigger or different universe from our own.....you might end up believing it after you hear this piece of reasoning. Simply said, if our universe is supposedly the only universe in space, it still expands where it covers.
So the edges of our universe could be considered the "walls" of our universe.
And when have you ever heard of a walled off "room" without other "rooms" (spaces) outside that walled off room?

Our universe is both finite and constantly expanding. So whether or not you believe that it's expanding into another universe or not, you must reason that there is space for our universe to expand into.....unless you believe the space is being created through our universe's expansion!

Thoughts?

I find it really funny that you posted this, just today in Astronomy class we talked about the exact same thing. I think it makes sense that there's something beyond our universe and I personally subscribe to the multiverse theory, simply because it makes perfect sense when you look at it. I fricken love how tiny we are. The pale blue dot...

Mind boggling, isn't it? I enjoyed the one where Morgan Freeman talks about the universe and worlds within worlds and how there may be many universes inside our universe, our planet, us, in our cells, in our atoms, in our quarks.

But if the universe is by definition "everything", would something outside not be included in this?

Also, the universe isn't just expanding, it's expanding faster and faster. in a few trillion years, wenn all the galaxies move away from each other with more than light speed, it will come to an event called "the great rupture" according to some scientists. It's when time and causality stop having meaning. Maybe this will cause the big bang again. who knows.

Also, there might be multiple universes, for all we know. they could touching each other at each decision someone makes.

Also, we don't really know yet, how time works. If there's any sense at all to chronologically compare two very distant places, if there isn't a causal link between them.

"time" is a construct we humans made up, and it basically moves with the same speed as light. So from our point of view, we will never be able to reach the edge of the universe, and so - why bother? ^^
I fear the answers to all these questions will forever be shrouded, if not for some miracle the human survives the next few trillion years.

I'm not so sure it is as simple as "moving outward into an outer space". We live in the 3rd dimensional plane, and so, we only comprehend the first three dimensions. But the whole of the universe, it has been said, exists and functions way beyond the 3rd dimension. Things outside of the 3rd dimension break all the rules or laws that we know of while observing the 3rd dimension. Therefore, it can be completely possible that outside the 3rd dimension, the universe may not even need an "outside space" to expand into at all.

Just my theory.

I don't think our universe exists as an entity on its own, I think its better described as our experience of the universe being probably a very small part of a much larger universe, but who can really say as to its shape.

The key element here is no new matter is appearing from outside this universe which seems to imply that there is nothing beyond what we call our universe.

The other issue is it appears to be expanding, and it appears there is unresolved content (dark energy, dark matter). The problem I have is science seems to assume our point of view is static and its everything else that is changing. As far as I know we are part of everything, so it makes me wonder if the expansion of the universe is not perhaps linear adjustments to the fabric of space time itself to create the appearance of expansion.

As Proteus points out, other dimensional models of what space time might look might exist - and they have been shown they'd be quite misleading from the point of view of anything within that system.

Have a look at these Wikipedia pages if you havent yet already;
Doughnut Theory
Ideas about the Shape of the Universe

Swiss cheese --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ds47ozzSrU

The Universe is simultaneously a minute singularity and a full, infinite expanse of matter, and everything in between. It exists by itself and with countless other versions of itself simultaneously. It chooses to experience time or not or both of these concepts simultaneously. Your consciousness is a reflection of the Universe. Discovering your Universe is discovering yourself is the Universe discovering itself through your eyes. When you elect to consider what would be outside of the reach of the Universe's galaxy clusters, it is the Universe considering the same thing.

It's fun to think about these things. It's mind and thought expanding to do so and that is a very good thing. The fact of the "matter" is we are incapable of ever know and arrrogent to think we can know. It's just plane beyond us wayy way way beyond us.

Just PLANE beyond us! HAHAHAHAHA!

Locksley wrote: I fricken love how tiny we are. The pale blue dot...

"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog." -Dwight D Eisenhower

I love our little blue rock too

Here's my theory: the universe is NOT expanding. The universe is just...there. It's just a black space filled with galaxies and particles and atoms and molecules and dark matter. There are no walls to it...there is no ending...it's just all the space that contains these different things. The galaxies are moving farther apart and farther away possibly from some central point, but I don't believe the universe itself is expanding. I don't believe it can because of my belief of what it is. I don't believe it has a wall that separates it from something else. If it did, wouldn't that mean that it's not really infinite after all?

The universe is defined as energy (that is any sort of EM-waves, including light, matter, and the few other things we don't understand yet) and space (which is mere emptiness). At the point where there is no longer energy in space and empty space begins is the "wall" of the universe. The "size" of the universe is obviously the amount of space that has any energy within it. Since light uses to travel farther away from its origin point (and occasionally adjust its direction slightly), one can almost expect the size of the universe to grow constantly. There are other phaenomena the most plausible explanation for which is not even the constant but the exponential increase of distance between the "walls".
So yes, for all we know there is space outside the universe, the universe is not just there but has a more or less accurately known size which is changing.
Now, if that is true or not is matter to discussion. It is held to be true, because the empirical evidence we have points to it and we hold that again to be true, just because if we'd question any idea the world confronts us with, we might as well stop researching, thinking or doing anything really and perhaps evolve into some sort of plant, that (as far as we can tell) wouldn't care at all about the nature of our world.

The way I see it, the amount of energy available is a constant... So the universe never really expands... It merely gives the illusion it's expanding because the space pane keeps on expanding (at the cost of time perhaps?). It eventually reaches a point where there is no more energy available, (or runs out of time?), everything starts collapsing on itself (big rip), "pressure" eventually builds up and we get a new big bang.

Anyway, I don't find it hard to believe the universe does not expand "into something", but "out of itself".

The problem is that, you consider the universe as something flat. There is no wall in our universe.

Let me ask you a question, imagine You are going to direct in to space, after a while (and that while is VERY, VERY HUGE!) you'll be back on the first place. Just the way that you go on earth, you'll be back to the first place as well.