JKellyMap, here are some tidbits I found on wikipedia in regards to your question about knowing the size of the actual universe, as opposed to just the visible universe…
if it is assumed that inflation began about 10^−37 seconds after the Big Bang, then with the plausible assumption that the size of the universe at this time was approximately equal to the speed of light times its age, that would suggest that at present the entire universe’s size is at least 10^23 times larger than the size of the observable universe.
If the universe is finite but unbounded, it is also possible that the universe is smaller than the observable universe.
Thanks, folks. I get the feeling we humans are like Papillon in solitary confinement on Devil’s Island, eating cockroaches in our tiny dark cell, with no hope of glimpsing (let alone visiting) the vast world outside, but we’re free to imagine what the world MIGHT be like, as we slowly descend into madness…
Sherlock Holmes claimed that the intellect is unbounded, and that one could, from a single drop of water, deduce the existence of Niagara Falls or the Atlantic Ocean.
I admire this as an ideal… But, alas, I think, in reality, from a single drop of water, most of us might just possibly be able to deduce the existence of two drops of water.
