Reconsidering Cosmic Infinity
At the dawn of astronomy, scientists envisioned the world as an unbounded, eternal whole, where changes occurred only in certain corners, while the fundamental laws of nature remained unchanged. Today, our views on the structure of the Universe have radically shifted: observations of the redshift of galaxies made it clear that the cosmos is in constant expansion, which in turn indicates its origin from a single point. This shift not only overturned traditional beliefs but also sparked new philosophical and scientific reflections on chance and determinism. Modern scientists tend to view cosmic dynamics as a process in which constant movement and interaction become a source of unpredictability rather than strict order, as was once thought. Consider this intriguing observation: if the cosmos were truly infinite and uniformly filled with stars, there would not be a single dark spot in the night sky. All of these discoveries push us to acknowledge that the Universe, regardless of how we perceive it, most likely has limits and a beginning. In summary, modern science shows that questions about the infiniteness of the cosmos remain open, encouraging further research and reflection on our place in the Universe.Does modern science align with the idea of an infinite cosmos? Modern science does not provide a definitive answer regarding the infinity of the cosmos. Historically, astronomers believed that the world was eternal in time and infinite in space – as stated in the following assertion:"Until the beginning of our century, scientists in general and astronomers in particular believed that the world is eternal in time and infinite in space. They allowed for modifications only in certain parts of the world, such as in the evolution of stellar systems, but believed that the elementary particles that compose matter and the laws of physics were eternal." (source: link )However, modern discoveries like the observations of galactic redshift have led to the understanding that if the Universe is expanding, then in the past it must have been condensed into a single point, thereby testifying to its finite beginning. This is noted in the following remark:"Slipher’s discovery of the expanding universe shook the scientific world. The devastating consequences this discovery had on traditional science soon became evident. If the world is expanding, then it must have at some point in the past been condensed into a single point — hence, it is neither eternal nor infinite." (source: link )It should also be noted that there is a variety of perspectives among scientists. For instance, one facet of modern scientific thought is presented as follows:"This dependence of my existence on the infinite cosmic life in the nineteenth century was once seen as a justification for determinism. Modern science and philosophy see things differently. They tend to view this constant influence of cosmic infinity, this movement of all parts of the world, as a source of indeterminacy." (source: link )This demonstrates that modern approaches lean more toward a statistical understanding of the laws of nature, where the scale of the cosmos and its dynamics do not necessarily require the concept of absolute infinity.Furthermore, there is a critical stance regarding the idea of an unbounded Universe. One argument against inevitable infinity is expressed as follows:"Recognizing the spatial finiteness of the Universe did not lead to the collapse of evolutionary theory. So, why must we, strictly speaking from a scientific perspective, recognize the Universe as finite and bounded? Long ago, a simple observation was voiced against the idea of an infinite Universe. In an infinite Universe uniformly filled with shining stars, there should not be a single dark spot in the sky." (source: link )Thus, modern evidence indicates that the concept of cosmic infinity is not universally accepted in contemporary science. Observations, such as the interpretation of the expanding Universe, point to a beginning of the cosmos, which contradicts the notion of infinity. The varying perspectives highlighted in different sources underscore that the question of whether the cosmos is finite or infinite remains a lively subject of debate within the scientific community.