Thread: Do we exist at a special t1me for cosmology?

I'd like to explore whether or not we exist at a special time which enables us to formulate the best possible cosmological models.If we came to exist at a much later period in the age of the universe, at a time where the local group of galaxies merged into a single large elliptical galaxy say, and we were far enough away to escape the influence of the Virgo cluster, and all other galaxies had receded out of view due to expansion, what would we make of the universe? For a start, it might be difficult to see out of our galaxy, depending on where we were located, but even if we could, we would see nothing but blackness. We would see no other galaxies or stellar objects. Detecting the CMB might be impossible at that time. What could we reasonably tell about the universe, its size, age, origins, fate?Conversely, what if we existed at the earliest times when the first stars and the first galaxies were just forming (assume it's possible)? What extra information would we have about the universe that we don't have now and what information would we not have that we do now (eg, accelerating expansion, stellar generations, etc)? Would our cosmological models be more naive or more powerful than now? And if we are currently in the Goldilocks epoch, what does that say, if anything, about the Copernican principle?

You may be right ... we are making the best of what we can see. But I would always hesitate to underestimate man's intelligence. People are incredibly smart. Look what they've figured out about things like quarks even though they can't be seen. I'm sure that given our existance in any period, there would be those in the population that would have the ability to figure out the "mysteries".