Did the Big Bang happen?

[HappySkeptic]

So in essence everything is nothing and nothing is everything. Is this at all related to the whole matter/anti-matter thing?

In his undergraduate textbook, Modern Physics (4th edition), Professor Kenneth S. Krane discusses cosmology in his last chapter.  In it, he states that the Universe is either finite or infinite in spatial extent.  Do you agree?  He also states that General Relativity can handle both scenarios, a finite Universe or an infinite one.  In either scenario, our Universe is expanding.  Of course, if our Universe is infinite, then, it is certainly conceivable that there are events that occurred in our infinite past or will occur in our infinite future, given that the speed of light, the rate of information transfer, is finite.

Now, if our Universe is finite, it is expanding, not only into its future, but in all three spatial directions, hence, its overall volume is increasing over time.  What, exactly, do you think, in this scenario, the Universe is expanding "into"?

I find it easier to conceptualize a finite universe.  An infinite universe is usually discussed in terms of some multiverse scenario (like branching universes).  While the universe appears flat, it may be so big we can't tell the difference between it and one with curvature (finite).

The universe isn't necessarily expanding into anything.  Spacetime is defined by relationships within itself.  We have no idea of anything external.  If the universe, as far as we are concerned is "all that there is", then there literally isn't anything to expand into.

Think of it this way -- imagine space as a fisherman's net, where the crossing ropes are nodes of spacetime.  Imagine that information takes T time to travel between any two nodes.  The distance doesn't matter (Only the number of nodes separating two points can be thought of as distance).

Then, add double the amount of ropes, so that the nodes quadruple.  If the time for information transfer between adjacent nodes is still T, we have effectively expanded the dimension of space by two, without "expanding" the size of the net.  The size of the net is meaningless - only the number of nodes between two points defines distance (as measured by the speed of information transfer).

So, does the expansion of space really mean anything is expanding, or are we just creating more "nodes" of spacetime (and spacetime is quantum?)?  We couldn't tell the difference, since there is no difference to us.