Editing World (section)

=== Scientific cosmology ===
Scientific cosmology can be defined as the science of the universe as a whole. In it, the terms "[[universe]]" and "[[cosmos]]" are usually used as synonyms for the term "world".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bolonkin |first1=Alexander |title=Universe, Human Immortality and Future Human Evaluation |date=26 December 2011 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-12-415801-6 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TuWQx58ZnPsC |language=en}}</ref> One common definition of the world/universe found in this field is as "[t]he totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and will be".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zeilik |first1=Michael |last2=Gregory |first2=Stephen A. |title=Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics |publisher=Saunders College Pub. |isbn=978-0-03-006228-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iH7vAAAAMAAJ |language=en |chapter=Glossary|year=1998 }}</ref><ref name="Sandkühler"/><ref name="Mittelstraß"/> Some definitions emphasize that there are two other aspects to the universe besides spacetime: forms of energy or matter, like stars and particles, and laws of nature.<ref name="Duco">{{cite book |last1=Schreuder |first1=Duco A. |title=Vision and Visual Perception |date=3 December 2014 |publisher=Archway Publishing |isbn=978-1-4808-1294-9 |page=135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7a7BQAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> World-conceptions in this field differ both concerning their notion of spacetime and of the contents of spacetime. The [[theory of relativity]] plays a central role in modern cosmology and its conception of space and time. A difference from its predecessors is that it conceives space and time not as distinct dimensions but as a single four-dimensional manifold called [[spacetime]].<ref name="Fraassen">{{cite journal |last1=Fraassen |first1=Bas C. van |title='World' is Not a Count Noun |journal=Noûs |date=1995 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=139–157 |doi=10.2307/2215656 |jstor=2215656 |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/VANWIN}}</ref> This can be seen in [[special relativity]] in relation to the [[Minkowski metric]], which includes both spatial and temporal components in its definition of distance.<ref name="Zeilik25"/> [[General relativity]] goes one step further by integrating the concept of [[mass]] into the concept of spacetime as its curvature.<ref name="Zeilik25">{{cite book |last1=Zeilik |first1=Michael |last2=Gregory |first2=Stephen A. |title=Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics |publisher=Saunders College Pub. |isbn=978-0-03-006228-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iH7vAAAAMAAJ |language=en |chapter=25. Cosmology: The Big Bang and Beyond|year=1998 }}</ref> [[Quantum cosmology]] uses a classical notion of spacetime and conceives the whole world as one big [[wave function]] expressing the probability of finding particles in a given location.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dongshan |first1=He |last2=Dongfeng |first2=Gao |last3=Qing-yu |first3=Cai |title=Spontaneous creation of the universe from nothing |journal=Physical Review D |year=2014 |volume=89 |issue=8 |page=083510 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.89.083510 |arxiv=1404.1207 |bibcode=2014PhRvD..89h3510H |s2cid=118371273 }}</ref>