[ExI] scale of the universe

[Mike Dougherty]

On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 4:51 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> Cool thanks.  The comment in the last frame about not being in the center of
> the universe is itself a classic misunderstanding of the notion of the big
> bang.  There is an incorrect view that the universe started at a point in
> space, and kerBOOM expanded outward from that space, analogous to a stick of
> dynamite exploding from some point in time and space, scattering stuff
> everywhere.  But that is not how the inflation models work at all, and isn't
> a good description of the big bang model of origins.  Rather, under
> inflation models, spacetime itself expanded after the big bang, rather than
> matter expanded out into space.  It is perfectly legitimate to define any
> point in space and time as the center of the universe, but not legitimate to
> comment "this particular point in time and space is not the center of the
> universe."

I discussed with a coworker the nearly unimaginable bigness of space.
His comment sums it up nicely:  "I have enough difficulty judging what
size Tupperware ideally fits dinner leftovers, I'm not prepared to
imagine the volume of space-time"