# Where is the universe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836 "2016-06-08T15:36:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/21 "2016-06-09T14:05:57Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I understand your question, and I’ve been asking myself analogous questions. Why is the Universe right here, instead of somewhere else? Why did the big bang happen when it did, and not earlier or later? The universe _is_ somewhere else, and it _did_ happen earlier. Nucleosynthesis happened earlier and in a different place, recombination and the emission of the CMBR also happened earlier and in a different place, as did the first gravitational collapse, reionization, the formation of the first stars and galaxies, eventually the formation of the Solar System (_much_ too early), and then abiogenesis and all of evolution had no choice but to get going sooner than it really felt was appropriate. So here you are, and it turns out that you have no way of knowing that you’re actually early and in the wrong place. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/22 "2016-06-09T15:34:12Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I understand your question, and I’ve been asking myself analogous questions. Why is the Universe right here, instead of somewhere else? Why did the big bang happen when it did, and not earlier or later? Some of the multiverse hypotheses answer that. We’ve done many threads on them. Short, glib version. Universes happen over and over and over. We notice this one because we’re a part of it. No larger meaning can be attached. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/23 "2016-06-09T16:39:16Z")
It was here a minute ago. Did you lose it? I know _I’m_ always misplacing the damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/24 "2016-06-09T17:05:32Z")
My favorite theory is that we are inside a black hole! And the black holes in our universe are other universes. Thus, we have actually seen big bangs in action…it’s black holes all the way down. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/25 "2016-06-09T17:22:07Z")
Have you looked under the cushions? That’s were I often find the remote. The universe might have slipped down there. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/26 "2016-06-09T17:28:16Z")
_You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should._ – Max Ehrmann ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/27 "2016-06-09T17:36:08Z")
I’ve heard reputable physicists talk about what’s “outside” the universe. Sure, concepts like “what, where and when” only make sense in our universe, and who knows what laws of physics would apply outside the universe, but it’s still possible to imagine our universe is expanding into something, along with a possible infinity of other universes. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/28 "2016-06-10T00:02:55Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Have you looked under the cushions? That’s were I often find the remote. The universe might have slipped down there. WOW! I found a quarter the size of the Horsehead Nebula! I think that M&M might be sentient, though. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/29 "2016-06-10T04:05:20Z")
If we define the universe as, that which is, the problem goes away. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/30 "2016-06-12T17:31:23Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > _You are a child of the universe, > no less than the trees and the stars; > you have a right to be here. > And whether or not it is clear to you, > no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should._ > > – Max Ehrmann _You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here. And whether you can hear it or not, The universe is laughing behind your back._ – National Lampoon ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/31 "2016-06-12T17:55:22Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > “I’m astounded by people who want to `know’ the universe when it’s hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.” > > - Woody Allen Today’s most fashionable cosmological theories have become so esoteric that one can by no means hope to use them to convert people to atheism. I wish Zeno of Elea were around. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/32 "2016-06-12T20:24:57Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > The Universe is the mystery that had no beginning and has no ending. 🆒 In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded. (Terry Pratchett) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/33 "2016-06-12T21:06:28Z")
\*The universe is an island, Surrounded by whatever it is That surrounds universes. \* –Ashleigh Brilliant ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/34 "2016-06-12T21:08:28Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded. (Terry Pratchett) How do you know? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/35 "2016-06-12T22:19:40Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > How do you know? 😛 Because of the mess it made exploding. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/36 "2016-06-13T22:07:51Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded. (Terry Pratchett) “In the begining, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has widely been regard as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams ---
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/37 "2016-06-14T10:34:41Z")
Seeing that there are so many whacky theories all with no basis in anything here is mine also based on nothing. The universe is a sound. To the human ear it sounds like Om. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/38 "2016-06-14T14:28:45Z")
Om …on the range, where the deer and the antelope play… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/39 "2016-06-14T16:29:54Z")
“I forgot my mantra.” --Jeff Goldblum (in “Annie Hall”) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836/40 "2016-06-14T21:39:56Z")
It’s everywhere you want to be, and everywhere else too. So it’s got Visa beat by quite a ways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-universe/756836.md?page=3)