(June 6, 2012 at 7:29 pm)Hovik Wrote: In that video I linked, Lawrence Krauss briefly discusses the shape of the universe and provides cursory evidence that it is, indeed, flat. However, I'm nowhere near qualified to say anything on the matter beyond taking his word for it.
Damn it Jim, I'm a linguist, not a physicist!
Yes, the evidence that we have today suggests that it is flat or nearly so. However, even future planned experiments will only be able to detect curvature greater than omega > +/- 10^-4.
So for now the answer is that, as far as we can tell, it looks pretty damn flat, but there's enough wiggle room such that we're not sure.
Personally, while I like the elegance of a flat (omega = 0) universe, I find it easier to wrap my brain around the idea of the boundless-yet-finite non-euclidean universe (omega =/= 0). Tomorrow I may feel differently. Neither is easy to contemplate.
