The limitation of light speed to a finite maximum means that we do not have and most importantly, cannot have any knowledge of the current state of Andromeda (the nearest galaxy) which lies 2.5 million lightyears distant. It follows that we cannot have any knowledge regarding the “current state” of any of the galaxies that lie beyond Andromeda. This situation extends all the way out to our current observational range-limit which is now in excess of 10 billion lightyears.
There are two reasonable conclusions that can be drawn in light of this factual state of affairs.
- We do not and cannot have any knowledge of a “current state of the Universe.”
- The Universe of the standard model of cosmology does not exist in physical reality. This conclusion is consistent with the observed disconnect between the SMC and empirical reality – none of the defining elements of the SMC are observed in the Cosmos
It has always been this foundational assumption of a Unitary (simultaneously interconnected) Universe that undermines the SMC’s ability to render a coherent description of the Cosmos we actually observe. The idea that the Cosmos constitutes a simultaneously interconnected entity, such that we can speak scientifically of its “current state” or its origin, is belied by standard physics. Put simply there ain’t no such animal as the Unitary Universe of the standard model.
The belief that the Cosmos is a Unitary Universe and the older belief that the Earth is at the center of the Cosmos, are both wrong; they are simply wrong – about the nature of physical reality. As with geocentrism, no further progress in our understanding of the Cosmos will be made until the Unitary Universe is retired to the dustbin of history.
The Cosmos we observe is relativistic in nature – we are at the center of our observable Cosmos. Other observers in other galaxies would be at the center of their observable Cosmos which would at best only partially overlap with our own. There is no universal frame in the Relativistic Cosmos, there are only local frames. That statement is consistent with Relativity Theory. The UU is not consistent with Relativity Theory.
The relativistic nature of the Cosmos is widely acknowledged but not well understood and it is not incorporated into the SMC, as can be seen in this common depiction of a light cone:
This image is graphically correct but the labeling is incoherent, beginning with the apex being labeled Observer. It should instead be given the spatio-temporal designation Here And Now. The Future Light Cone should be labeled Emitted LC while the Past Light Cone should be labeled Received LC. The Hypersphere Of The Present should be labeled the Imaginary Hypersphere Of The Present to make it clear that for any observer at any specific Here and Now that imaginary hypersphere has no physical meaning – it does not exist in any local observer’s Cosmos.
The UU of the SMC is a model of the Imaginary Hypersphere Of The Present that is completely inaccessible to direct observation, measurement or detection. It is not part of our physical reality. Since science is restricted to the study of physical reality it follows that the SMC is not a scientific model; it is only a mathematical model of an imaginary, metaphysical conceit.
Although the SMC is based on a solution to the field equations of General Relativity, that solution assumes the existence of a universal frame, but that assumption is inconsistent with GR which does not have a universal frame. As a consequence, the resulting solution, the FLRW equations that are the basis of the SMC, is not a relativistic model and that means it is also not a realistic scientific model. The SMC is just some simplistic math based on a set of ill-formed ideas about the nature of physical reality concocted 100 years ago when scientists were still arguing whether the galaxies were part of or separate from the Milky Way.
The Relativistic Cosmos, in contrast, is entirely consistent with the light cone depiction. Any Here And Now in Relativistic Cosmology is unique and is not simultaneously connected to other Here And Nows on cosmological scales. That we cannot know the “current state of the Cosmos” is entirely consistent with RC. In a sense this is because RC is consistent with General Relativity which does not have a universal frame. Relativistic Cosmology is congruent with both theory and observation, the Unitary Universe is not. The Cosmos we observe is fundamentally relativistic in nature.