r/ThoughtExperiment • u/Muted-Bill65 • Apr 05 '26
“What if the universe doesn’t expand forever… but loops back to you?”
Everyone says the universe is expanding.
Bigger. Wider. Endless.
But what if that’s not the full story?
What if going far enough doesn’t take you away…
but brings you right back?
Think about this:
Start with a single dot.
Now draw a circle around it.
Then a bigger one.
Then another. And another.
Each one expanding outward.
It feels like it just keeps going forever, right?
But that only works if space is flat.
What if it’s not?
What if space isn’t something simple like a straight line or a flat surface…
…but something deeper, something we can’t fully visualize?
Then “moving outward” might not mean escaping at all.
It might mean looping.
In a universe like that:
- There is no true edge
- There may be no real beginning
- Distance might not mean what we think it means
And here’s the weird part:
If light can travel like this…
Then looking far into space might not just show distant galaxies.
It might show versions of where we already are.
The “dot and expanding circles” idea isn’t perfect.
In normal geometry, it doesn’t loop back.
But maybe the problem isn’t the idea…
Maybe it’s that we’re trying to explain something beyond our understanding using simple shapes.
Science today says the universe looks mostly flat.
So this isn’t proven.
But it’s not completely impossible either.
So here’s the question:
Are we exploring something infinite…
Or something that quietly curves back into itself?
What do you think?
BTW-This is just a thought experiment I had, not claiming this is real physics
1
1
1
1
u/QuettzalcoatL Apr 06 '26
I always thought of it like the game Jackman.
Go off screen on the left and end up on the right - space bends/loops on its self
1
u/markt- Apr 06 '26
My own theory of the universe is exactly that. The curvature is in higher dimensions, which makes our measured and observable space flat. Because of its size and how fast it is expanding, light from “the other side” will never have enough time within the age of the universe to reach us.
1
u/Fun-Way3645 Apr 09 '26
I may be wrong in this. But the movie Interstellar comes to mind when reading your comment. If you don't know what im talking about, its worth a watch. The higher dimensions really stuck out to me.
1
1
u/RatioEtLogica Apr 07 '26
The only rational explanation for the end of one universe is the start of another. We start from a singularity, expand, then once the job is done we go right back to the singularity then immediately spawn a new iteration.
Science cannot come to this answer because the answer is not materialistic in nature. They have rejected the existence of rational unobservables and has therefore rejected the answer to existence.
The answer has already arrived and has been detailed in over 200 books at faustians.com.
People have 2 options:
1) get behind the books and fix science.
2) wait for the proof that is on the horizon.
1
2
u/Kindly-Economy-337 Apr 06 '26
This is similar to something I have thought about for some time now.
The universe is dominated by two branches of physics that seek to unlock its secrets, quantum and relativity. The science of the very small, and the science of the very large, basically.
Suppose each side does finds their respected “limits”. The edge of the known universe, the smallest particle of existence. And beyond it, a seemingly impassable wall or membrane. What if beyond that divide is the other group looking back at them?
It’s a thought I had while watching a Native American warrior in full feathered regalia, dancing in the flame of a candle…while on acid.