Are There an Infinite Number of Charlies?

Charlie McDonnell is a phenomenally successful YouTube blogger, with more than 2 million subscribers. And from time to time he likes to wrap his head around complicated topics in space and astronomy.

In this short video, Charlie tackles the implications of what it means to live in an infinite Universe. If the Universe is truly infinite, and there are a finite number of ways that matter can be configured, then if you travel far enough, you will run into duplicates.

Out there, somewhere, there are an infinite number of Charlies. And an infinite number of you and me.

Of course, if we life in a finite Universe, then just forget about everything that Charlie just said.

Here’s the thing. Astronomers have calculated that the Universe is at least 91 billion light-years or so across. Beyond that, they just don’t know if it’s finite or infinite.

If you want to chase down this rabbit hole even further, check out this older video from Numberphile on a similar topic. With these two videos under your belt, you should just barely be able to wrap your head around the concept of an infinite Universe.