Infinite Universe Theory

Infinite Universe Theory (2017)
Scientific Theory
Name	Infinite Universe Theory
Type	Cosmology
Author(s)	Glenn Borchardt
Keywords	Big Bang Theory, infinity, Neomechanics, Aether, redshift, cosmogony
Year	2007 (paper); 2017 (book)

Infinite Universe Theory (IUT) is the cosmology developed by Glenn Borchardt as the alternative to the Big Bang. It is the cosmological application of neomechanics and of Borchardt's Ten Assumptions of Science, and it holds that the universe is infinite and eternal in both the microscopic and macroscopic directions, has no origin, no edge and no age, and is therefore not a proper subject for cosmogony at all.

The name belongs to both a theory and a book: Borchardt first set the position out in a 2007 paper for the Proceedings of the Natural Philosophy Alliance, and expanded it into the book Infinite Universe Theory in 2017.

The central argument

Borchardt's case does not begin with data but with an assumption, and with the claim that the opposing assumption is equally unprovable and usually unnoticed. Big Bang cosmology presumes a finite universe with an origin; IUT assumes infinity. Neither can be proven. His contention is that physics adopted finity without ever registering that a choice had been made, and that "fundamental assumptions exist as unconscious presuppositions before they are brought into the light of day."

Once infinity is assumed, an origin becomes incoherent — in his phrasing, "it is not possible for the universe not to exist everywhere for all time" — and the assumptions of inseparability and conservation forbid matter or motion coming into being from nothing. Cosmogony, the study of the origin of the universe, is thus not a difficult science but an illegitimate one, having no object.

Predictions and claims

The 2007 paper set out an explicit list of what IUT predicts, several of which are shared with neomechanics generally:

• Time is motion — not a dimension and not a substance.
• There is an aether; empty space and solid matter are ideas, not realities.
• Light is wave motion in that aether.
• The galactic redshift is due primarily to absorption, not recession.
• Gravity involves a push, not a pull.
• Light bending near massive bodies is refraction through a dense "etherosphere," not curvature of spacetime.
• Galactic ages will not correlate with distance from Earth.
• The universe is Euclidean and not expanding.
• Matter has only three dimensions.
• There is a complement to the Second Law of Thermodynamics — the subject of his "Resolution of the SLT-Order Paradox" (2008).

The same paper lists what IUT rejects as illegitimate pursuits: cosmogony; non-Euclidean mathematics applied to physical space; the unification of physics via a single equation; the objectification of time; and energy conceived as matterless motion.

The redshift

In place of expansion, IUT attributes the cosmological redshift to the absorption of light over great distances. On the neomechanical account, each collision of particles within a medium accelerates the collidee and decelerates the collider, with slight internal absorption of the attendant motion; the production of subsequent waves is thereby delayed, and the wavelength increases. Redshift on this reading measures distance travelled through the aether rather than velocity of recession, and no expansion of space is required or permitted.

Elderly galaxies

Borchardt's principal observational argument is that the deep field surveys show galaxies at the observational limit that appear too old and too well-formed for a universe of 13.8 billion years. Under the Big Bang, objects should look systematically younger with increasing distance; under IUT, galactic ages should show no correlation with distance, since every direction looks out on the same infinite and eternally evolving universe. He opens the 2017 book with such images, and has predicted that the James Webb Space Telescope would find galaxies older than the promoted age of the universe. Colliding galaxies and "dark flow" are cited as further anomalies the expanding model handles badly.

The 2007 paper

The original statement is "Infinite Universe Theory," Proceedings of the NPA, volume 4, number 1, pp. 20–23. Its abstract reads:

The inevitable rejection of the Big Bang Theory (BBT) will lead to a more enlightened and more logical theory, but what will it be? The BBT will be replaced by the Infinite Universe Theory (IUT). It will produce the greatest revolution in science since Copernicus. A change of this magnitude will not come easily, probably not for decades, but it will come. The outlines of IUT can be seen by examining the logical defects of the BBT. A side-by-side comparison of the two theories not only shows the logical superiority of IUT, but it points the way to fertile fields of research and experimentation while rejecting still others. Among the predictions of IUT: time is motion; there is an ether; light is wave motion; the galactic redshift is due primarily to absorption; gravity involves a push, not a pull; there is a complement to the Second Law of Thermodynamics; light bending near massive bodies is refraction due to a dense etherosphere; galactic ages will not correlate with distance from Earth; the universe is Euclidean and not expanding; empty space and solid matter are ideas, not reality; matter has only three dimensions. Among the illegitimate pursuits: cosmogony, non-Euclidean mathematics; unification of physics via a single equation; objectification of time; and energy viewed as matterless motion. Welcome to the infinite universe!

The 2017 book

Infinite Universe Theory (independently published, 2017; 337 pages; ISBN 978-1-7290-9252-1, with a 2018 printing at 327 pages, ISBN 978-1-9733-9905-6) presents the theory for a general readership, largely in question-and-answer form. It opens with images of the elderly galaxies at the observational edge, restates the Ten Assumptions of Science and the principles of neomechanics, and works through questions ranging from "Who created god?" to "What causes the cosmological redshift?"

Borchardt's framing claim for the book is that the change from the unprovable assumption of finity to the unprovable assumption of infinity will produce what he calls the Last Cosmological Revolution — the final step, in his account, of the long Copernican displacement of humanity from the centre of things.

Relation to Borchardt's other work

IUT is one member of a connected programme rather than a standalone cosmology:

• Neomechanics supplies the mechanics — classical mechanics adapted to infinity, with matter and the motion of matter as the only constituents of the universe.
• The Ten Assumptions of Science (2004) supplies the philosophical foundation, in which the assumption of infinity is the thread running through the rest.
• The Scientific Worldview (2007) supplies univironmental determinism, the doctrine that what happens to any portion of the universe depends equally on the infinite matter in motion inside and outside it.
• Neomechanical Gravitation Theory (2012), with Stephen J Puetz, supplies the account of gravitation as aether pressure.
• Universal Cycle Theory (2011), also with Puetz, supplies the cyclic structure, attributing observed universal cycles to variations in aether density produced by compression waves.

Standing

Infinite Universe Theory is not accepted in mainstream cosmology, which regards the expanding-universe model as well supported by the redshift-distance relation, the cosmic microwave background and primordial nucleosynthesis. Borchardt's reply is that these are interpretations resting on the prior assumption of finity, and that an infinite universe requires different interpretations of the same observations rather than different observations.

Its interest for readers of this wiki lies in its scope and in the explicitness of its foundations: Borchardt states his assumptions up front, concedes that they cannot be proven, and asks that the competing assumption be held to the same standard. Among infinite-universe and steady-state traditions documented here it is one of the few worked out from philosophy through mechanics to observation as a single connected argument.

See also

• Infinity — the broader topic, and the other researchers on this wiki who argue for an infinite universe
• Glenn Borchardt
• Neomechanics
• Universal Cycle Theory
• Neomechanical Gravitation Theory
• Big Bang Theory
• Aether

External links

• "Infinite Universe Theory", Proceedings of the NPA (2007) (PDF)
• Progressive Science Institute
• The Scientific Worldview — Borchardt's blog