LogFAQs > #979486189

When we say the universe is expanding, we don't mean some hypothetical "boundary" is getting further away. Rather we mean that any two random points in the universe are getting further away from each other, but without actually changing their physical locations. (One admittedly imperfect analogy would be to imagine that the space between the two points is being "stretched thinner", but without changing the amount that's there. Sort of like how a rubber band doesn't add more material to itself just because its wrapped around a larger object).

Applying this principle in reverse suggests (and there's other evidence as well, so, the whole affair is a pretty solid theory) that the points in the early universe would be closer together until, at time 0, they were infinitesimally close to each other, effectively overlapping in all the ways that matter.

Because every point in space was the exact same as every other point at the start of everything, this significance, or, rather, lack thereof, continues to apply now. Depending on how you structure your definitions, either nowhere at all is the centre or literally everywhere is.

Either way, unless there's a grand shakeup in cosmology that dramatically redefines our conception of how the universe functions, no amount of advanced technology is going to help us find something that doesn't meaningfully exist.