I've had alot of fun reading this. And i realized this topic was started almost 2 years ago O_o, that does show you how quick our lifes go by.

Anyway i've thought about what people have said alot, and i cant make my mind up on wether infinite or finite seems realistic beyond our universe.
Its hard for me to explain, im sure someone else could explain it better.
But i believe there must be something beyond the universe.
Every action has a reaction, and our universe was a reaction caused by an action outside of what we live in.
So i guess that means there is NOT "nothing" beyond our universe. But that still loops us back to question of what IS beyond our universe.....
When people say whats beyond the universe,they automaticly try to create a mental picture of it.
Something is out there, but it may not look like anything we know, but it could still be there, and we wouldnt understand it.
But it would be made of something.... do you get what im saying?

Point is, we can and, will never know...although it is a interesting topic, I think just about all that can be said about it has been said.

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Yes, it's what can be called metaphysics, rather than science. You can use science to inform your metaphysics, but it still isn't science. Sometimes the line gets blurred, but not when you are talking about outside the universe, which becomes inside the universe as soon as you know anything about it. And welcome to the forum DuPz0r!

i know this may be extremely random but while i was thinking about whats beyond "beyond" i realized that you can not define anything really.....
a soccar ball is a round sphere........a round sphere is a 3-d circle......a 3-d circle is a round sphere which it is in such like a boomerang.....it starts with a million things, soccerball;baseball;anything round....then to a round sphere.....then a round sphere is a 3-d circle.......but what is a 3-d circle and what is that......since there is no complete answer i believe that it just hits the "wall" and bounces back.....i believe the same reasoning applies to our universe.........

Since there is no limit as to how big something can be (I think), I always think that our universe is actually a proton or neutron of some sort probably part of a "dog's flea", in another universe... Funny idea though..

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<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:red'>The</span><span style='color:black'> Black Hole</span><span style='color:red'> and </span> <span style='color:white'>White Hole </span><span style='color:red'>are best friends!</span></span>

We are trapped in space forever!

lol, change the CAN to CAN'T, never re-read that when I posted it.

Honestly guys, this thread has totally run it's course, it's time to let it die.

If you have questions, I suggest you make a thread asking about your specific question.

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In science answers lead to a deeper questions.
What happened to the cat?

I have this sneaking suspicion one of the new dimentions of string theory is where at every planck level there's a link to our largest level universe. Maybe we're in a mobius shape where two trips through would be needed to complete the journey. This multi-faceted torus idea best soothes my finite-infinite question - it's both. Okay, I've let the cat out of the bag; when do I pickup my Nobel Prize? LOL ;-)

Ah that's where the cat went.

I'm a simpleton(yr10 schooling) and my vocabulary isnt very good, but I'll try to project what I've "imagined" is outside the universe.

With the big bang theory in-mind, I believe there are layers and layers, each layer containing a subatomic 'independant' particle. self sustained and always moving towards the gavitational pull of our universe. At the end of each layer the 2 particles combine and a reaction occurs(this cycle continues gaining more particles until it becomes visible matter). and I've come to think that outside these layers is pure white/energy (for some reason).

but yeah, its just an un-educated opinion. no flaming please

I was looking up beyond the universe when I came across this site with the posts on whether or not the universe was infinant and or what may be beyond. I was very interested to note that all answers were based only on scientific guesses. What about Biblical???
OK science and evolution is correct, but does no one belive in God and the Holy Bible?
Don't you think that somewhere in the after space in some dimension there may be Heaven and Hell? Whatever they may be. I don't mean that is a space where the spirits hang out. But, everything is recycled, right? Where do souls go when they leave the body? Who or what did create life, this thing we call God??? These things are somewhere, right? So what about the spirit world? Where does that fit?
I believe there is much much more that none of us know. There is much more to the universe than just space. I, like everyone else, do not know what is out there and where it all ends and begins and what is on the other side.
Remember, once humans believed the world was flat. They thought when a ship disapeared over the horizon that it fell over the edge of the world. We now know that is not correct.
I don't think we can know the meaning of life until we die and meet God.
But please, don't think that much on this that you decide to slit your wrists to find out, cos once there, you can't come back... or if you do, it is as a new baby with your memory cleaned.
Another thing to think on............. the world, the universe....... the internet.... that/this is a whole new universe in itself, hey?

There are many spiritual texts, all with different ideas of what might be beyond the physical space. Why would you choose one in particular to mention, simply because it is the one you are familiar with? Note that religion, and your own personal faith, are not appropriate topics for this forum, as I'm sure a moderator will point out shortly.

Welcome, linken39. Our discussion forum is dedicated to science -- that's our focus. With the exception of two very specific allowances, we don't discuss religion here, as Ken G noted above. Please take a moment to review our forum rules in that regard.

Thanks.

the analogy of what is outside the Universe is like that of books(thinking of a book as like a universe), there may be other universes as represented by a book, but what is between books?

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Brian's mother: He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy!

That analogy is about as weak as these:
the analogy of what is inside/not equal to/behind the Universe is like that of donuts/numbers/idea (thinking of a donut/number/idea as like a universe), there may be other universes as represented by a donut/number/idea, but what is inside/not equal to/behind the donut/number/idea?

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0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0....

well, what is behind the donut?

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Brian's mother: He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy!

About.com :: Inventors, Donut/Doughnut

For some reason, that doesn't seem to help me understand the universe any better.

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0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0....

Hi all. This is my first post though I've been reading the forum for ages now. Here's my penny's worth:- I've got this idea that there isn't anything "outside" or "inside" the universe and that it's nature is cyclical.

Indulge me for a minute and try to imagine in the future the biggest telescope ever invented that can "see" further into space than we can at present. Also the most sensitive microscope ever invented that can "see" things that are so small we don't even know they exist. I have this theory that when scientists look into this huge telescope and the tiny microscope they don't see anything new, they simply see an eye staring back at them! In other words the person looking into the telescope sees the eye of the person using the microscope and vice versa!

OK so it's a bit sci-fi but I feel we, as humans, always try to explain things in a way we can understand (as limited by our simple brains) but as we are beginning to see, things are a lot stranger out there!!!

That is a cute idea, but it's already contra-indicated by observation. We've seen as far as we can, because the universe gets opaque to light if you look any farther than the cosmic microwave background. Now, if we could see all the way back to the Beginning, who knows...

Woah!! This is new to me. Any chance you could embellish a little. Have we actually seen as far as the CMB?
When you say the universe gets opaque to light what exactly do you mean?