- IMO, “our” universe is the only universe there is. Because the notion that there are more than one universes is speculative and because one universe is sufficient to contain the whole of Reality, including God, no other universes are needed.
- Pythagoras (c. 570 - c. 495 B.C.) is credited with calling the universe: ὁ κόσμος [ho kosmos], because he viewed the universe as a complex and orderly entity or system, as opposed to chaos.
- The Cosmos is a set of things once called atoms (i.e. uncuttables/indivisibles) which are enaged in an ongoing process called: “moving through the void”. In order to describe the behavior of the atoms–i.e. in order to speak sensibly about motion–it is necessary to begin with postulating the existence of two metric spaces. Only then are there distances and durations, so that one can divide one by the other and thus compute a speed, without which no speech about motion is going to have any meaning. It is not strictly necessary that one of the metric spaces, i.e. Space, have only three dimensions and the other, i.e. Time, have only one dimension. However, those dimensions are sufficient and are all an atom needs to have one position somewhere in Space at any single instant of Time.
- Space is a set. The elements of space are points. Space is the set of all points. Any two points are some distance each from each, each such distance being r meters for some non-negative real number r.
- Time is a set. The elements of time are instants. Any two instants are some distance each from each. each such distance being the product of a non-negative real number and a unit of distance, such as .03 days or 2,592 seconds.
- There is nothing wrong with the notion of space that occurs in classical mechanics, by which I mean Newton’s absolute space, which does not move or expand or change in any way with the passage of time but serves, together with time, as the standard by means of which changes in positions, sizes and shapes are measured. There is not and never has been any evidence of any kind that even suggests that this notion be called into question, much less any evidence that contradicts it. There is no valid philosophical objection to it either, since it is not known to involve any inconsistency.
- There is nothing wrong with the notion of time that occurs in classical mechanics, by which I mean Newton’s absolute time, which passes at a uniform rate everywhere in Space and serves as a standard for measuring the rate of change of anything that changes. There is not and never has been any evidence of any kind that even suggests that this notion be called into question, much less any evidence that contradicts it. There is no valid philosophical objection to it, either. It is not known to involve any inconsistency.
- However, previously, when I proposed an infinite and eternal universe (i.e. a universe in which atoms move through Absolute Space during Absolute Time) [Source: On the intersection of an Infinite and Eternal God and Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity], the response of a Biologos forum member was:
“In science the notion that space or time are absolute are shown to be incorrect in so far as we can measure them …” which appears to me to mean: Absolute Space and Absolute Time are false concepts because we can’t measure them; in which case I suppose “God” must be a false concept because we can’t measure Him.
(To be continued)