Are We Living in a Black Hole?

[Judi Lynn]

Are We Living in a Black Hole?

Our universe may reside within a vast, black hole.

By Michael Finkel

for National Geographic

Published February 18, 2014


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A surprising spiral shape in the nearby active galaxy NGC 1433, shown above, indicates material flowing in to fuel a black hole. A jet of material flowing away from the black hole has also been observed.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/NASA/ESA/F. COMBES[/font]

Let's rewind the clock. Before humans existed, before Earth formed, before the sun ignited, before galaxies arose, before light could even shine, there was the Big Bang. This happened 13.8 billion years ago.

But what about before that? Many physicists say there is no before that. Time began ticking, they insist, at the instant of the Big Bang, and pondering anything earlier isn't in the realm of science. We'll never understand what pre-Big Bang reality was like, or what it was formed of, or why it exploded to create our universe. Such notions are beyond human understanding.

But a few unconventional scientists disagree. These physicists theorize that, a moment before the Big Bang, all the mass and energy of the nascent universe was compacted into an incredibly dense—yet finite—speck. Let's call it the seed of a new universe. (See also: "Origins of the Universe.&quot

This seed is thought to have been almost unimaginably tiny, possibly trillions of times smaller than any particle humans have been able to observe. And yet it's a particle that can spark the production of every other particle, not to mention every galaxy, solar system, planet, and person.

More:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140218-black-hole-blast-explains-big-bang/

[LuvNewcastle]

1. I've always thought that there was another universe that

ours descended from. It's hard to imagine nothingness. Philosophers have written books about the state of nothingness and can't really make any sense of it. I can only imagine multiple universes, stretching to infinity and continuously changing. I wonder if the other universes are expanding too, and if they are, what are they expanding into? Will they ever run out of room? Is there a nothingness surrounding all the universes for them to expand into when they need more room? Will we ever run out of nothingness to expand into? If I go any further with this, my head is going to start hurting.

[John1956PA]

3. I have tried to contemplate the concept of nothingness. Like you, my mind began to hurt.

Thanks for your thought-provoking post. I do not think that a high percentage of people try to wrap their minds around this concept. Every time I have tried, I get to the point of contemplating the absence of space, and my mind revolts against my effort to go there. I find it interesting that there are writing by philosophers on this subject. Before attempting to read them, I will have to steel myself for my mind's rejection of the exercise.

[DireStrike]

4. It's the absence of events that gets me

The idea of nothing happening anywhere ever... Never mind that there is no anywhere for it not to happen in, I don't even get that far before my mind starts rejecting the thoughts I'm having.

[Flying Squirrel]

7. Try contemplating neverness

If at one point there was nothing, that would mean there wasn't even time. So how could there be no universe at one point, then something happens at a later point, if there's no "later"?



In other news, I edited this post three times and it's not showing up as having been edited at all. Curiouser and curiouser...

Ok, now it's back to normal. Whew!

[Warpy]

8. That's thought to be what happens inside a singularity

The whole concept of space/time is destroyed. It's certainly not impossible that every one becomes its own universe, making it turtles all the way up as well as all the way down.

[kristopher]

11. There is a new policy ruling your DUniverse

People were irritated that fixing typos etc got their post marked with the red edit tag, so Admin changed the software to give a thirty minute window for edits to be done before an edit tag will trigger.
Any changes are still recorded so if you post a reply and the original you replied to has changed you can go to the 'permalink' tag at the bottom of the post and track the edits by clicking it.

[Vashta Nerada]

9. The understanding of nothingness will come to each of us at our end.

That's scary to think about.

[Yo_Mama]

10. I don't find it hard to imagine or think of nothingness

It's the something from nothing that makes my head hurt.

Universe cycles do make more sense. Is it true? I don't know.

It's a lot easier to imagine a contraction/expansion model in which one universe is born as another dies in a profound singularity.

[Orrex]

2. Some days it sure feels like it.

[tridim]

5. It's an elegant theory, so it seems right to me.

[mindwalker_i]

6. So THAT'S why everything sucks!

I've wondered a lot about this. A book I'm currently reading, Our Mathematical Universe, posits that space is infinite and that sections slow down from cosmic inflation to make pocket universes, but I lean toward the black hole idea more.

[Javaman]

12. Interesting article but...

"It's possible, in other words, that a black hole is a conduit—a "one-way door," says Dr. Poplawski—between two universes. This means that if you tumble into the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, it's conceivable that you (or at least the shredded particles that were once you) will end up in another universe. This other universe isn't inside ours, adds Dr. Poplawski; the hole is merely the link, like a shared root that connects two aspen trees."

Given this concept, wouldn't there be shared "roots" that are "dumping" shredded particles into our universe as well? And seeing now how fairly common black holes appear to be, would there be more than a few instances of them being detected? I guess, one would have to assume that there are also black holes in these other universes...(universi?)

I'm not a scientist nor do I play one on TV, but this would be a very interesting path to take, that is, trying to detect particles coming our war from some other universe.

[struggle4progress]

13. "all of it highly speculative and completely unprovable"