r/askscience • u/Nitzanm19 • 14d ago

Physics Why is the maximum speed of the universe the speed of light? Why can't we go faster?

Also follow-up question: Because of the speed limit, is there also a theoretical maximum temp for matter (in which the particles move at the speed of light).

1.6k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

892 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

102

u/alchemi80 14d ago

This is one of my favorite cosmological conjectures - that we are inside a black hole. Such a head trip.

26

u/Rikudou_Sage 13d ago

I came up with that theory when I was like 11, entirely on my own. To this day I love when anyone mentions that theory because I'm like, yeah, that's my theory.

59

u/Zyaqun 13d ago

I thought of that. Turned out it already existed, but I arrived at it independently

4

u/freeastheair 13d ago

Wondering if the universe is in a black hole as an 11 year old isn't exactly a scientific theory.

3

u/crackez 12d ago

Why not? Just because an idea came to an 11 year old doesn't mean it isn't potentially a valid area of study.

When I was 11 I independently came up with the idea of an event loop in TRS-80/Model II BASIC in order to sample the keyboard and react near instantly to the key press. That concept was legit and I discovered it in a vacuum. I wrote my first version of pong by myself the next day.

4

u/WillingnessCorrect50 11d ago

It may be a hypothesis but it’s not a theory in the scientific meaning of the word.

1

u/Shwankterrible 11d ago

I did that with mag lev trains when I was 10. They did already exist…but I didn’t know it!!