Thread: If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?

No matter how much thought humans put into this we will never, ever know in this life. Whatever "theory" is produced can still be questioned. The question keeps going on and on in a loop. If this universe expands into another universe, then what is beyond that and what's beyond that one, an so on. The truth is, we are tiny organisms that live on the surface of tiny planet and we barely know anything about what's out there.

According to modern thought, which is subject to radical change depending on evidence, there is really nothing it expands into. Like the Big Bang was not surrounded by anything. The laws of physics didn't even exist back then. If I may hazard a guess I would say that the laws of physics apply where there is universe stuff, so it's perhaps even impossible to contemplate what is outside the universe.

The universe is infinite I think it's just gonna keep expanding and that's it

Maybe we are in world within a world. Just like the marbles in MIB

I tend to believe that before the universe was what it is there was nothingness so the universe expands into what was nothingness, a void. Almost like an AI sims game.

Originally Posted by johndingo

I tend to believe that before the universe was what it is there was nothingness so the universe expands into what was nothingness, a void. Almost like an AI sims game.

Well i believe there was no ''before the universe'' . I don't think there was nothing and than the universe ''pop-up''. It was there always..and i don't think it's expandable. Like that theory says that it is, my theory says it doesn't :P

It's important to remember that the universe is expanding in all three dimensions. This means that it's impossible to actually visualise its expansion in a 3D world like ours. If you imagined the universe and its expansion, as, say, a balloon blowing up, you're only modelling a 2 dimensional universe - the universe is just the surface of the balloon, it has no depth, as the depth of the balloon is the time axis.

To help you realise how difficult this is to imagine in 3 dimensions: imagine being on the surface of a balloon. If you ran straight forward for a certain length of time, you'd end up back where you started. The same is true for the universe - travelling in the same direction; any direction; will eventually get you back where you started. Difficult to get your head around, isn't it?

So, the universe isn't really expanding into an empty space, per se, it's just expanding in itself, in all directions.

Wait didn't James Gates essentially just say not too long ago that we are living in the matrix. Therefore the universe is expanding in some dudes hard drive.