Reliving

The concept of infinity is something that can't be escaped when talking about the universe, or indeed existance itself. Likewise, it's a concept that seems hard to grasp when applied to these matters. Either the universe has existed in some form or other forever, or at some point it came into being from nothing, but if there was nothing, how could something come from it, if there was nothing to provoke the change? And ultimately, if the universe is to exist forever, then everything that ever was and will be will ultimately be destroyed and forgotten, so what is the point?

Well, that's possible, although it's sort of "loopy." :/

You should really define "I" here. Sometimes I think what would be happening if my mom or my dad married someone else? Would "I" be the same as "I" now, or...

Then I start questioning my existence and conciousness. Where do "I" come from?

I think it is 42.

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Original post by alnite Well, that's possible, although it's sort of "loopy." :/ You should really define "I" here. Sometimes I think what would be happening if my mom or my dad married someone else? Would "I" be the same as "I" now, or... Then I start questioning my existence and conciousness. Where do "I" come from?

Well, right now, I guess the only way to characterise "you" is to define "you" as been a mass composed of some particles. If your mom or dad married someone else, all the particles which are currently "you" at the moment would most likely have went into different places. Since your body has mostly been developped from food, then well if your mom/dad married someone else, all that food would probably have been eaten by various different people.
So the "you" you currently are at the moment would only be some random particles into different places if your mom/dad married someone else...

Well, that's the way I see it, I don't think you can define an human as really been an "entity" by itself, if you see what I mean..


Ok, so to come back to the "I" discussed in my topic subject, well, the "I" I'm talking about could be a person with identical attributes or even a person with identical attributes and with the exact same atoms/electrons (same atoms/electrons from the "previous" identical life in the past, of course).

The same notion could be applied to space. If space is infinite, then somewhere there's another me on a planet exactly like this one, in a solar system exactly like this one, etc. So not only have you lived an infinite number of times, and will live more in the future, you also exist infinitely right now.

No... you wouldn't re-exist. A being similar to you in every way would exist, but it wouldn't be you. Time is infinite yes, but time is like PI in that it never repeats the same sequence.

It it's a scary subject to talk about. Life itself is wonderfull, but think of it, death means either the end or the next beginning... It always frightens me, death.

I am religious, but what if the universe is forever(How can it be forever, and how could it come into existance?)? What if there is no God, what if we die and fade into the nothingness...

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Original post by Nigh Unstoppable No... you wouldn't re-exist. A being similar to you in every way would exist, but it wouldn't be you. Time is infinite yes, but time is like PI in that it never repeats the same sequence.

Not completely true. There is a chance it is you, since the possibilties are infinite. Ofcourse, we won't remember anything, but chances are, we live the exact same life, with the exact same start and end.

And what if the spirit of a human is as forever as the universe? Perhaps our spirit is part of the universe, and once one dies, their spirit will seek a new form, either on this planet, or on another(Chances are that we are not alone. Even with God, he could have created similar worlds, since making one would be boring and quickly finished). There are theories(Different religions) that once you die, you leave your body, raise to a higher plane and from there, you select your next life.

This is a discussion that has been discussed many times(Either in this universe or in another [grin]), and it will be discussed ALOT of times more.

Toolmaker

The universe recreating itself an infinite number of times and there being an infinite number of possibilities certainly doesn't mean something anywhere near this universe will happen again. If each universe happens after one another then there is a countable number of universes. There will certainly be more than a countable number of possibilities.

Of course this doesn't mean that the same universe wouldn't come round again.

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Original post by Hedos I've just read an article on universe and it made me realise better what is the true notion of time. Time is infinite, some scientists say our universe exists since maybe 20 billions of years, but who know how many universe have existed and have been created before? There could have been a trillion of billions of universes which were created/destroyed and with each universe lasting billions of billions of years... And there should be a lot more of things in the future, an infinite amount of things since the time is infinite. So, would this means that I will probably "relive" in the future, on an exact same planet, with the exact same people? With an infinite amount of time there is an infinite amount of possibilities, so logically, that would mean that I will surely reexist.. I could even be composed of the exact same atoms.. With an infinite amount of time it would definitely be possible.. Well, who know, maybe this planet with all of us have existed in the past a billion of times.. Anyway.. it's kinda scary to think that ;) Am I crazy or do you believe what I'm saying could be right?

Search for information on Friedrich Nietzsche, and his theory of the Eternal Recurrence of the Same. Pretty much the exact same thing.

I have a criticism about it, though, which higherspeed mentioned already. If the number of arrangements of any given universe are of an equal or larger infinity than the number of universes, then there is no guarantee whatsoever that every [or any] arrangement that has occurred in the past will occur again in the future. It may happen, but chances would likely be against it, and quite possibly, immensely against it.

This is all, of course, bound up with the assumption that time was progressing before the beginning of our universe, and will continue to progress after our universe. (Or similarly, that space is infinite, or that there are an infinite number of parallel universes, etc.) However, since we have learned that our concept of time and space may not be exactly infinite, because of the way they themselves are affected by the "age" of our universe, and how they may even just loop around on themselves, it gets really hard to say what the nature of time would be at the very beginning or end of our universe, and if anything could exist "before" or "after" it.

I don't know what your experience is, but if you haven't read much on modern physics, look into some stuff on relativity. That'll really give you a new perspective on the nature of time. Quantum physics then continues to mess with our standard assumptions even more. And superstring theory tries to combine relativity and quantum physics together, while adding some of its own details, so it gets quite odd.

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Original post by Hedos And there should be a lot more of things in the future, an infinite amount of things since the time is infinite. So, would this means that I will probably "relive" in the future, on an exact same planet, with the exact same people? With an infinite amount of time there is an infinite amount of possibilities, so logically, that would mean that I will surely reexist.. I could even be composed of the exact same atoms.. With an infinite amount of time it would definitely be possible..

Actualy, the way I see it. There is an infinite number of possibilities, and therefore the chance of the exact same thing happening again is infinitely small...?

But then again you've got infinitely many tries with infinite time..

Argh... Stop messing with my head [sad]

Some infinities are 'larger' than others.