What if Earth really is the center of the universe?

[Bullgrit]

This is just an idea I had for some fun thinking. What if Earth is the center of the universe? Meaning, what if we aren't just part of a grander world, aren't just part of a bigger picture. Everything in the universe is actually window dressing or plots or whatever specifically for humans of Earth. What would this fact mean, how would it play out?

Bullgrit

 

[Umbran]

Well, in a physically infinite universe, every point can be considered the "center".

Taking the strongest interpretation of your statement - that the Universe (as we see it, which may not be reality - window-dressing, as you put it) is set up as a stage for humans, specifically, then how this plays out really depends upon the agency that set it up. We can't speak to how it plays out without knowing (or assuming/positing) who and how.

If the agent is someone who is an omnipotent, omniscient creator, well, now we are talking religion.

For the rest, we are more comfortably in the realm of fictions...

If the agent is, say, a reality TV producer, maybe it plays out like the Truman Show.

If the agent is, say, a more advanced species engaged in an "uplift" scenario, it turns out yet another way...

Hard to say, really.

The big question is, if the Universe we see is "window dressing", then what is the reality in which our window sits?

 

[Janx]

Staying away from the religion aspect, this gets into the what if reality isn't...

It could be a simulation, like the Matrix.

It could be like the holodeck, in that what we manipulate is projected by something else.

As Scott Adams theorizes (non-seriously), we could have virtualized ourselves and we are running in a simulation based on where we came from.

I posit that reality is most likely that which we observe (or do fancy sciency stuff with colliding protons and numbers to detect a Higgs Boson). Super realities that contain this one MIGHT exist, but the probability that they do is low, due to the inability to detect, interact or manipulate them. Effectively, they don't exist.

It's kind of like Time Machines. If they existed, people would be popping in and we'd know about it? The probability that Time Machines exist AND people are super careful about it and there's no mistakes is about as likely as any of the other complex endeavors Man has set out on having zero impact or visibility on the world like the Shuttle Program, the Manhattan project or drilling for oil. If Time Machines exist (presumably in the future, but by their nature, effectively through out all time) then somebody will do something noticeable with one eventually.

As for the Earth being the center, that would likely get ruled out by virtue of how humans organize things relatively.

The Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. Once that fact is known, man instinctively moves the center of his univers to the Sun, and not the Earth. Once we realized the Sun was in a Galazy that circled the center, the Galaxy became the center. Once it was known that the galaxy and all others were blown out from a central Bing Bang, that became the center.

All this becomes more obvious when drawn out. The eye instinctively sees the circles and shapes and deduces what the center is. You'd have to be wired differently to see a solar system diagram and insist that the Earth was at the center when viewing the circles around the sun.

 

[Dioltach]

Actually, more specifically *I* am the centre of the universe. I don't like to brag about it, though.

 

[Fast Learner]

Actually, more specifically *I* am the centre of the universe. I don't like to brag about it, though.

It's a big responsibility.

 

[billd91]

So Earth is the center of the universe? Does that mean everything is circling us like it's going down a toilet?

I'm reminded of the imagery from a song my children used to sing:

Joy to the world
That Barney's dead.
We barbecued his head.

You won't find the body.
We flushed it down the potty.
And round and round it goes.
And round and round it goes...

 

[Plane Sailing]

This is just an idea I had for some fun thinking. What if Earth is the center of the universe? Meaning, what if we aren't just part of a grander world, aren't just part of a bigger picture. Everything in the universe is actually window dressing or plots or whatever specifically for humans of Earth. What would this fact mean, how would it play out?

Bullgrit

Well, one could argue that it plays out identically to the current situation, since at present we appear to be the only actors on the stage

Or did you mean that instead of being rotating around in a galaxy which is flying away from all the other galaxies, we happened to be in the literal centre of the universe?

 

[Jemal]

I posit that reality is most likely that which we observe (or do fancy sciency stuff with colliding protons and numbers to detect a Higgs Boson). Super realities that contain this one MIGHT exist, but the probability that they do is low, due to the inability to detect, interact or manipulate them. Effectively, they don't exist.

It's kind of like Time Machines. If they existed, people would be popping in and we'd know about it? The probability that Time Machines exist AND people are super careful about it and there's no mistakes is about as likely as any of the other complex endeavors Man has set out on having zero impact or visibility on the world like the Shuttle Program, the Manhattan project or drilling for oil. If Time Machines exist (presumably in the future, but by their nature, effectively through out all time) then somebody will do something noticeable with one eventually.

Unless, as theorized by the great Doctor/professor Farnsworth, Time machines are only capable of travelling in one direction - Forwards. There's no such thing as a backwards time machine.

As for the Earth being the center, that would likely get ruled out by virtue of how humans organize things relatively.

The Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. Once that fact is known, man instinctively moves the center of his univers to the Sun, and not the Earth. Once we realized the Sun was in a Galazy that circled the center, the Galaxy became the center. Once it was known that the galaxy and all others were blown out from a central Bing Bang, that became the center.

All this becomes more obvious when drawn out. The eye instinctively sees the circles and shapes and deduces what the center is. You'd have to be wired differently to see a solar system diagram and insist that the Earth was at the center when viewing the circles around the sun.

Although with enough information about the speed and direction of travel of all relative objects, and far more technical expertise than I have, one could - theoretically - create a model in which the Earth was a fixed central point, and calculate how the rest of the universe would have to be moving in order for the Earth to be the 'center'. It would, as you indicated, take a different form of thinking than what humans are used to, but it could be possible with enough computing power and information.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It's a big responsibility.

And with great responsibility comes great power, right?

Unless, as theorized by the great Doctor/professor Farnsworth, Time machines are only capable of travelling in one direction - Forwards.

Could be. In the episode that theory was used, though *spoilers* time was kinda cyclical, after the big bang eventually would come a big crunch that eventually would lead to a bing bang - so we may still experience time travellers from previous universes. That doesn't mean forward-travelling only time machines don't exist, just that they are unlikely to exist when there is also a cyclical universe.

Of course, current data and theories seem to suggest neither big crunch (universe folding into itself) nor big rip (universe eventually expanding so fast that atoms and even protons or neutrons would get ripped apart, leaving behind only isolated elemental particles that can never meet another particle since space between them is expanding faster than light).

 

[Umbran]

As for the Earth being the center, that would likely get ruled out by virtue of how humans organize things relatively.

The Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. Once that fact is known, man instinctively moves the center of his univers to the Sun, and not the Earth.

You realize that history rather shows otherwise? There's nothing "instinctual" about it. The western world had to be dragged kicking and screaming to a Heliocentric view.

You'd have to be wired differently to see a solar system diagram and insist that the Earth was at the center when viewing the circles around the sun.

Yeah, tell that to Galileo. Copernicus gave us the math of Heliocentrism back in 1543. A century later, Galileo died under arrest for supporting that model. It didn't really start gaining traction until 1700 or so. There's nothing at all "natural", instinctive, instant or automatic about accepting any particular model. Never underestimate the human ability to deny the obvious.

Although with enough information about the speed and direction of travel of all relative objects, and far more technical expertise than I have, one could - theoretically - create a model in which the Earth was a fixed central point, and calculate how the rest of the universe would have to be moving in order for the Earth to be the 'center'.

And, in fact, that's what Europeans did prior to Copernicus and Galileo. The math's a bear, but it can be done, yes.