In the beginning...

so the universe could be the 13.7 billion year old membrane of an expanding bubble and if you could look at it from a point outside it would look way bigger as a bubble does yet the bubble skin itself is only a few microns wide......and if the outer edge were expanding at a rate faster than the inside edge then it could account for the universe getting older and bigger and spacetime expanding at a different rateNow if there were bubbles inside of bubbles as ripples in a spherical pond of singular nothingness then it could account for the multiverse and being dependent on initial conditions at the start of time then these universes could be identical in so many ways yet so different in some fundamental way...the trick for us then would be to see where our universe is in relation to others in the overall succession of bubbles within bubbles and figure out how to get to the egde of the membrane of our bubble , analyse it, break thru it and see what's on the outside then travel thru that to get to the next one......I don't think black holes/worm holes can help us there cos they are universe specific to keep it expanding uniformly by shifting energy around to maintain a balance. The most it could do is get us to the singularity of nothingness at the edge or centre and we'd have to take it from thereBTW Sylas...thanks for that explanation it has helped heaps. Just one thing though, if the visible universe is 27 billion light years wide does that mean 13.7 billion light years in any direction ( given a uniform spherical expansion ) from here or from the middle ???...thanx

To add to this discussion about the size of the Universe, there is a theory out there that says it is possible that the visible Universe is bigger than the actual Universe. It predicts that the Universe is like a bubble in nothingness where light just travels around and around and around. So, if you look in front of you and see a distant galaxy, and then turn around and look behind you and see another distant galaxy, the theory states that it is possible that you are looking at the same galaxy.I find this theory to be very fascinating, but it is not part of mainstream science simply because there isn't much to be found to support the theory.

hey Lam......not wanting to claim undue props but that's my theory and I developed it by just thinking about it and visualising itdo you know who else thought that theory up I'd be keen to know or find sum research ???I also think there probably won't be anything to support it until we can see the edge or the middle or the universe from outside of it......the universe isn't the complete set of everything that exists it's just the complete set of everything we can see given the light we have access to so our perceptions are limited to the sensory, beyond that you just have to feel things instinctually and believe they are right.The process goes sumthing likeI think, I know, I feel , I'm rightIn the beginning God said "let there be light and it was good...we are now sufficiently evolved to where GOD will soon say "let there be more light" and the people will see everything and it will be betteraccept nothing as fact
question everything
determine your own truth
define your own realitybelieve in the perfect nothing