Space and Orientation

[Austaph]

You'd navigate the same way sailors do - by the stars. I wouldn't worry too much about what you'd do when you got so far out that the perspective of the celestial bodies was skewed. If we developed light-speed technology, it would still take tens of thousands of years to reach the closest galaxy.

I like the question, though. It's interesting, someone once told me that the universe isn't really infinitely expansive, but that it works kind of like mouse-wrap on a monitor (ie: when your mouse cursor reaches the farthest right of the monitor, it'll appear on the farthest left.) The idea that the universe is infinite is kind of like a modern version of the earth being flat. Many times, though, I've gazed up at the stars and wondered "where are we?" In truth - there is no way to tell where we are. This slightly fits in with Einstein's theory of relativity. He designed these experiments to try and test if you could determine if the train you're riding is, in fact moving - given that the train travels at a constant speed, not slowing down, not speeding up. Einstein says that there is no way to tell.

You might also be interested in a 5th century BCE philosopher named Zeno of Parminides. He used this technique called reductio ad absurdum (reduce to absurdity) to generate paradoxes which were used to disprove philosophic claims. One of them was called The Dichotomy. Zeno claims that all motion is actually impossible. In order for me to walk ten feet across the room, I'd first have to walk half that distance. In order to walk half the distance, I'd have to walk half of the half. Then half of that half, and so on. So I actually wouldn't even be able to take the first step, because I would always have a smaller distance to first traverse. It functions off of the idea that you can divide an inch down into infinity, so in order to walk any distance, you'd have to walk an infinite distance. Pointless and off-topic, but I thought it might amuse you. Keep asking questions, it's good for the brain.