Trapped
2200 AD The Universe Existing in a Bottle
A boundary to the universe
A limit to the significance of man
Trapped
Part III of VII
To those on the inside the bottle, there are two choices. In both cases, the concept of the Klein bottle begins much the same but ends differently, as we shall see.
Science in 2200 has found there is a boundary to our universe. Science, having found the boundary, now knows that the universe through which we travel has an outside. Our universe has a limit. We, defined by the boundary of the universe, have found our limit and a limit means we are indeed relatively insignificant. With no significance comes the destruction of hope. The world is about to be thrown into a bottomless pit of depression, despair, and acceptance of its insignificance.
We swirl about in our continual eddy of unresolved perception of our significance in reality. This is an eddy whose energy source is not understanding what reality and the purpose of reality are. We constantly, within our subconscious, directly tie our size of significance to the size of reality. We have wedded the concept of infinity to our reality because we desperately want our significance to be infinitely important. Now we have found reality to be finite and, in turn, found ourselves to be finite in significance. With this understanding, we realize we are insignificant relative to the infinite vastness that must extend beyond the boundaries of our reality - a vastness we will most likely never see.
We have always clung to the hope that our universe was infinite, for an infinite universe meant we had the possibility for infinite significance. Now, we find we are confined within a bounded, limited Klein bottle and the universe must also be bounded, limited in significance. Science sees no possibility of cracking through the wall of the Klein universe. Theoretically, a Klein bottle, a Klein universe, has, for someone on the outside, no way of being entered and for someone on the inside, a Klein universe has no way of being exited. We are confined in a bottle like a bug in a jar.