So the term the Universe is used to describe reality in its largest form, as far as I know. Everything that is real is a part of the Universe and nothing that exists is outside of it. If it turns out that we live in a multiverse full of parallel realities, that there are other dimensions, that universes existed before the big bang, etc. then our Universe just becomes one of many realities.
So is there a term for reality on that higher level? The term multiverse describes a reality that has all the universes, but if reality existed before the big bang or in other dimensions is there a term to encompass those?
Chronos once used a great term that he and his buds in the GR field toss around, and I noted it appreciatingly, and for the life of me can’t remember. I hope he checks in.
In my opinion, the universe encompasses all physical existence. If its structure resembles a foam-like inflorescence, then it is each bubble that should get a new name, not the universe itself.
There are theories that our big bang came from something else. Branes hitting each other, distortions in a previous universe, black holes in another universe, etc.
But not “before” us. Not a “previous” universe. Those are relative positions in time, which for us is bounded at the BB. It is as meaningless for us to speak of a universe “before” us as to speak of one “north” of us.
Right, but they’d exist in some other relation to us than “up” or “forward” or “back” or “before” or “after”. Time is a feature of our universe that came into existence with the big bang. Whatever existed before the big bang couldn’t have actually been before the big bang, any more than it was left of the big bang, because time and space as we know it didn’t exist until after the big bang.
What it would be like to have a universe without time and space is left as an exercise for the reader.