Visualising the Number of Galaxies in the Universe

[Slim]

Best to watch directly on YouTube or fullscreen. Very good presentation.

Short spoiler version:

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

[The Picnic Wasp]

I watched this on my 'phone this afternoon. I have no words to express how mind bending this is. I might give it a go later tonight with some alcohol in my system to find out what effect it triggers in me surrounded by that comforting mental blanket. The thing which astounded me the most and which puzzled me even more, was the possibility that this fairly recent discovery just might continue forever and that my only reaction was "why"? Vast distances are frustratingly annoying but perhaps not always, or for everysomething. Could an extraterrestrial existence be so huge in form that reaching out from its titanic planetary solar system towards ours might be a much less daunting venture?

Edit: Bought some Furstenberg today so I'll probably have cracked this quandary not long after MOTD.

[Nick]

Great stuff, well communicated. Could go the other way into atoms with Rice Krispies.

[The Picnic Wasp]

If galaxies do exist everywhere in an unending universe, does this rule out the possibility of a big bang? I'd never thought of there being an infinite amount of matter until now. Perhaps matter needs to create its own space. I don't know if this kind of thinking is good or bad for the human mind. I once thought about a number which literally scared me. What if every male reproductive cell from all time, was to singularly penetrate every human ovum which has ever existed, so that every possible variation of a human being could exist? What kind of number would that be? Would it even be able of calculation? I suppose it would be a reasonable equation for a brilliant mathematician. Starting with one male from prehistory, the number of cells he produces since adolescence, times the number of ova the first woman in the  sequence produces in her life time. Add that to woman number two's result, and so on. The only stumbling block might be the determination of when we became actual humans as we know today. Would the number be more than the number of galaxies or planets? Would it be more than the number of atoms in the universe as these are recycled? Answers on a postcard.

[Nick]

If galaxies do exist everywhere in an unending universe, does this rule out the possibility of a big bang? I'd never thought of there being an infinite amount of matter until now. Perhaps matter needs to create its own space. I don't know if this kind of thinking is good or bad for the human mind. I once thought about a number which literally scared me. What if every male reproductive cell from all time, was to singularly penetrate every human ovum which has ever existed, so that every possible variation of a human being could exist? What kind of number would that be? Would it even be able of calculation? I suppose it would be a reasonable equation for a brilliant mathematician. Starting with one male from prehistory, the number of cells he produces since adolescence, times the number of ova the first woman in the  sequence produces in her life time. Add that to woman number two's result, and so on. The only stumbling block might be the determination of when we became actual humans as we know today. Would the number be more than the number of galaxies or planets? Would it be more than the number of atoms in the universe as these are recycled? Answers on a postcard.

Seems to make the God thing look very odd, making all those universes to be worried if somebody was not keeping the sabbath day on a small planet within a single universe.
 

[The Picnic Wasp]

If galaxies do exist everywhere in an unending universe, does this rule out the possibility of a big bang? I'd never thought of there being an infinite amount of matter until now. Perhaps matter needs to create its own space. I don't know if this kind of thinking is good or bad for the human mind. I once thought about a number which literally scared me. What if every male reproductive cell from all time, was to singularly penetrate every human ovum which has ever existed, so that every possible variation of a human being could exist? What kind of number would that be? Would it even be able of calculation? I suppose it would be a reasonable equation for a brilliant mathematician. Starting with one male from prehistory, the number of cells he produces since adolescence, times the number of ova the first woman in the  sequence produces in her life time. Add that to woman number two's result, and so on. The only stumbling block might be the determination of when we became actual humans as we know today. Would the number be more than the number of galaxies or planets? Would it be more than the number of atoms in the universe as these are recycled? Answers on a postcard.

Seems to make the God thing look very odd, making all those universes to be worried if somebody was not keeping the sabbath day on a small planet within a single universe.
 

I take a contrary view on this as I sit gulping down San Miguel. God is the only acceptable answer to me in our unfathomable part of all this. We have a small amount of squishy material sitting within a fragile shell atop our pitifully insignificant existence, yet we have attained such knowledge so quickly in relative terms. We unravel His mysteries and language such as DNA and gravity on a regular basis now. Greater questions and tasks lie ahead but I always reach the conclusion they are part of a designer's plan rather than an accident. I'm not good at quoting scripture as my memory isn't so great but if the Son of God stated that things will be revealed to us that we could never imagine then that's good enough for me.

[Slim]

Well, I don't think you could make a rational case for your conclusion. No son of "God" ever stated anything; such a person never existed.

I have to agree with Nick, the "God" idea is ridiculous in light of the sheer vastness of the universe. If we're the only conscious life in the Universe, then what is the rest of the cosmos for? Billions on billions of unimaginably vast galaxies, every one of them filled with billions of stars and planets.

But if the universe is teeming with life, does it really make sense to think that its creator sent his offspring to this particular star among billions in one particular Froot Loop out of 350 swimming pools' worth of them? It's just nonsense either way you cut it.

[Slim]

https://pi.ai/

Here's a question about a very, very big number. See what you can do.

Sure, I'm always up for a challenge involving big numbers! Hit me with your question, and I'll do my best to provide an answer.

A friend posed the following question: "what if every male reproductive cell from all time, was to singularly penetrate every human ovum which has ever existed, so that every possible variation of a human being could exist?" Assume: we're talking only about human reproductive cells. And obviously I only need an approximation. How many human beings, conceptually, might arise from such an exercise?

Wow, that's a mind-bending question! Let's tackle this step by step:

• First, we need to estimate the total number of human sperm cells that have ever existed. According to some sources, the average man produces around 1,500 sperm cells per second, or around 130 billion sperm cells in a lifetime. If we assume that around 100 billion people have ever lived, we get a total of about 1.3 x 10^22 sperm cells.
• Next, we need to estimate the total number of human eggs that have ever existed. Women are born with around 1-2 million eggs, and if we again assume that around 100 billion women have ever lived, we get a total of about 1-2 x 10^18 eggs.
• Finally, we need to calculate the number of possible combinations. Using the combination formula, we get a staggering (1.3 x 10^22)! / ((1.3 x 10^22 - 1.

How does that compare to the estimated number of atoms in the universe?

The estimated number of atoms in the observable universe is around 10^80, which is an incredibly large number! However, the number of possible human beings from the scenario you described is astronomically larger.

In fact, the number we calculated earlier, (1.3 x 10^22)! / ((1.3 x 10^22 - 1)!, is so large that it cannot be fully written out in decimal form. To give you an idea of just how big it is, even if we assume that the number is "only" 10^(10^22), it is still vastly larger than the number of atoms in the universe.

So, in summary, the number of possible human beings from your friend's scenario is unimaginably, mind-bogglingly large and dwarfs the number of atoms in the universe!

OK can you please explain the notation you use in your solution?

Certainly! The notation used in the calculation is called factorial, and it's represented by the "!" symbol. Factorial is an operation that multiplies a given number by every positive integer smaller than itself.

For example, the factorial of 5 (written as 5!) is calculated as 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1, which equals 120.

In the calculation I provided earlier, we used factorials to determine the number of possible combinations of sperm and eggs. The expression (1.3 x 10^22)! / ((1.3 x 10^22 - 1)! calculates the number of ways to choose 1.3 x 10^22 sperm cells out of a total of 1.3 x 10^22 sperm cells, which gives us the total number of possible unique combinations.

Factorials are commonly used in mathematics, particularly in permutations and combinations, as they allow us to calculate the number of ways a certain event or outcome can occur.

Is the solution many billions times the number of atoms in the universe?

Oh yes, the solution is unfathomably larger than the number of atoms in the universe! In fact, it's so big that it's difficult to even describe just how much larger it is.

To put it into perspective, the number of possible human beings from your friend's scenario is not just billions or even trillions of times larger than the number of atoms in the universe. It's actually many, many orders of magnitude larger—to the point where it's practically impossible to compare the two numbers meaningfully.

So, in essence, the solution to your friend's question is an unimaginably huge number that makes the number of atoms in the universe seem minuscule by comparison!

[The Picnic Wasp]

Awww shucks! You described me as your friend.🥰