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SlowCrates t1_j20uyxe wrote

Can you imagine the collective mind-fuck it would be if, whilst peering deep into the cosmos, we didn't find the beginning of time, or aliens, but we started to see a familiar pattern in the stars? Can you imagine an AI analyzing faint distant images and concluding with 99.99999999999% certainty that it's seeing the same star formations in multiple places in the universe, impossible to perceive with the naked eye? The wild theories that would create, and the ones it would destroy? I think that would be more amazing and horrifying than discovering super intelligent aliens.

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RollinThundaga t1_j21c1te wrote

If space were curved enough, and assuming we had impossible resolution telescopes, we could look out into the univers and see the back of our own heads however many billions of light years away.

However, space has only a very slight overall curvature.

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gwardotnet t1_j22h3qv wrote

Impossible. Picture a tub full of coffee and tossing in a cup of milk. Pattern will be different every time, even if very similar.

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will_wolfy t1_j23f391 wrote

I think what he’s implying is the universe is finite/spherical, and peering out far enough reveals our region of the universe again

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