Theory says this Universe is a hologram

with a rope around the edge of the world to stop things falling off :P

iamlegendBut we've already established there is no such thing as space.....space is composed entirely of matter...
Therefore the universe is composed entirely of matter

Oh c'mon, not this 'definiton-by-word-or-term' bullshit! :P Seriously, who cares if it's called space and is composed of matter? The fact is that we refer to it as space because that's the way a language works. It refers to the area outside of our earth's atmosphere.That aside, there's really not enough to debate. The theory can neither be proved or disproved. It's such a blind idea, and probably not true, but you can't really back up anything with evidence in this case. There's really not a lot to discuss of the issue.

in my opinion, "space" doesn't mean "empty" otherwise the term "empty space" is an idiotic term to use. in my opinion, "space" must mean "place with something in it", even if that "something" isnt really therelike the spaces between the words on this post - except they're not realy empty, there's some pixels glowing white (or blue), photons smacking you in the jowls from the back light, a layer of plastic, some material that'd probably sterilize you, and some air (and a snot ball because i just sneezed at the screen)

Weird idea...

iamlegendBut we've already established there is no such thing as space.....space is composed entirely of matter...
Therefore the universe is composed entirely of matter

space is composed of matter and energy

yep... time to chuck something else into the equationit is commonly accepted that the universe is continually expanding, and many smart people reckon the universe is expanding at a faster rate (they saw this happening by measuring the distances between two celestial objects - supa novae)anyway, one therist reckons the universe only appears to be expanding at an accelerated rate because time is slowing down around usas time slows everything around us (in space) appears to speed up. the theorist also reckons time will eventually grind to a halt - but not in our life times. maybe in a hundred trillion years (doctor who style), by then earth will have most certainly... ended one way or anotherdiscuss?

No, i think thats wrong, we understand that the universe is expanding because of things called Red Shift and Blue Shift. We have to learn it for GCSE Science. But since I already finished my GCSE, I expelled the deails from my head.

and red shift/blue shift (the doppler effect) is what proved the universe is expanding faster and faster

Replying to #48

Yep thats true.. the universe is expanding faster

jin_kazamaso, as we are not holograms, we can touch each other, we're tangible (i'm remembering another thread about philosophy), and the moon also exists and is tangible too, and people have already been in space, i don't think the universe is a hologram.

How do our games solve this? Collision detection detects it, and activates a switch to stop moving. It's just a trick. Touching a hologram would just be a collision detection triggering a switch that says pressure is applied to a partion of the skin (isn't that what 'touch' is?).On the universe part, I believe it has a border and that it started with a big explosion with all the energy gathered in one point.At some points in the universe, this amount of energy just has not expanded enough and created high points of gravity, ie. black holes. Black holes are not that impressive if you consider that they are 'just' the result of one supernova. How many supernovas are there? What would happen if you collide two supernovas? Would you get a big black hole?I also believe that a shrink back to a single point will once happen. Compare it with the sun. It started with a small object which became critical and fusion started. It exploded into something big, but did not keep expanding and just die out. This is due to gravity. I believe the universe is going through the same thing, the explosion just has not ended yet.I said that I believe in a Big Bang that started everything, but I also think the current theory or model is still incomplete. Quantum physics shows that we're not describing everything accurately.As for 'time', people sometimes call it the fourth dimension, which I find a possible description. You can describe multiple 2D objects in a 3D object. You can do the same with a 3D object in a 4D object. I use the word 'object' to keep things general, what this object might be is free to choose for the observer. One thing humans can distinguish next to a 3D world is time, so it is possible that you consider 'time' as a fourth dimension.
If time is just another dimension, then it means it considers the same rules as a different dimension. (If you want a nice dummy book on this, go read Flatland)
Now, how can a lower dimension have an influence on a higher dimension? Please answer this to me.Also, tear my reply apart. I'd like a good counter-reasoning.

think "the matrix". the universe clearly must have a border. but we'll never reach it because the speed required (rejecting al energy stuff and things like that) will continually be increasing. it will be a never-ending goal, and if the theory of time slowing down is real, it will also be unattainable via conventional meansunconventional means might include scooting down black holes and hoping to appear out "the other end". alive.