This post is a combination of science, philosophy, and music:
Every bit of matter and energy in the universe is moving through time and space at its own velocity and trajectory. That means that th infinite number of those makes it certain that each of those will come into contact with an almost infinite numbers. That makes it impossible to predict which will contact with which, or at what time and point in space (Heisenberg uncertainty principle). Some of those contacts will be at great force, releasing very large amounts of energy and altering the matter involved. Others will be a gentle merging in which it is most difficult to note quickly that a change has occurred.
Each contact is an moment which is both the ending event in one sequence and the beginning event in the It is a bride between what was and what results. So, in that sense, here are no beginnings or ends to anything in the universe.
Either consciously or by instinct Igor Stravinsky realized this. In his music, every ending note of each sequence is the beginning note of the next. There are no beginnings or ends, merely transitions. Some of those transitions are powerful and discordant. Others are so gentle and beautifully in harmony that we hardly notice the change. This is to me one of the mysteries and beauty of Stravinsky's work.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Although we may not know precise locations, that was the point in my college course at which probabilities of finding a position of matter were introduced, and at that point my mathematical abilities got off the bus, so I cannot help much. I just like the idea of no beginning and no end. I am sure that it annoys religionists. Would you march round with a banner which said
" THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THE WORLD IS KINDA GOING TO COME ROUND AGAIN." ?
Mcflewster
Level 8
June 15, 2022
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The universe apparently had a beginning (about 13.7 billion years ago) and will have a end some trillions of years in the future, when the last star has finally winked out and all matter has spontaneously converted to pure energy and disipated.
@Flyingsaucesir Surely. you only say that figure of 13.7 Billion because somehow light from that time has reached us since then . What do we say when we get light from 20 Billion years ago to a sensor in a space probe 2 billion light years away from us now?. Is it the case that "There is no limit to how far we can probe to, but we may not be here when it gets back to earth?"
@Mcflewster I think the 13.7 billion figure comes from analysis of the cosmic background microwave radiation, which, if memory serves, is the about 3° K energy left over from the Big Bang. So that, apparently, is close to the actual age of the universe.
@Flyingsaucesir What about the Big Bang before that? 50 Billion years before that one. NB all numbers need checking.
@Mcflewster There is no evidence of a previous Big Bang.
I checked the numbers. 13.8 billion years is apparently the age of the universe. The CMBR temperature is about 2.75°K. So I was not off by much. 
You may like the idea of an endless, cyclic repetition but there is absolutely no evidence supporting such a conclusion.
@Flyingsaucesir I would not expect such evidence, but recycling will stay in my book until I die. Why SHOULD things have and end . Endings frighten people.
@Mcflewster We needn't worry outs over the end of the universe. Our species will have gone extinct loooong before that.
@Flyingsaucesir Of COURSE!
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