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Comment by randomtoast | Hacker News Reader

Questions like what was before the big bang or what is outside of our universe seem to be quite natural. However, we still don't know if these questions are well defined and have a proper meaning. For instance, a few hundred years ago, one might have asked, what happens if I go to the edge of the (flat) earth? Or one might ask: What is north of the north pole?

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Thanks, GPT 4.1. It told me the same thing twelve hours ago when I asked it what was at the top. “what’s north of the North Pole”?

It is well possible that GPT-4.1 references Sean Carroll, either directly or by regurgitation.

> One sometimes hears the claim that the Big Bang was the beginning of both time and space; that to ask about spacetime “before the Big Bang” is like asking about land “north of the North Pole.”

Source: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/writings/dtung/

I'm a regular listener of his Mindscape podcast, and that's where I got this phrase. I can highly recommend his podcast: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/

> What is north of the north pole?

I really like this analogy for "what is outside of our universe", thank you

Not really. It’s not what’s outside of our universe. It’s why is there something instead of nothing.

It’d be like asking why is there a North Pole? Why is there an Earth to give meaning to a North Pole? Why is there a universe for the Earth to exist? And so on until you inevitably reach why is there something instead of nothing?

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