think you missed the point reip... uhh. infinity? there are infinite "universes" constantly "big banging" all over the place.. like mold colonies, can you imagine them forming? there is no beginning .. thats a human concept... no matter what the physicist says, they are still looking at a part of the whole., no one can know or comprehend the scope of existence... it is truly infinite, and although you might pretend to understand the origins, in reality, there are no origins, but a human must understand based on the ingrained metaphors of their ability to maintain function through communication..
there is no "origin" because the entire thing is unnecessary, and whether your explanation is religious or "scientific" is inconsequential. because there was no beginning in the first place.
Recent scientific discoveries are alluding to the fact that the universe may actually be speeding up; there is a good talk on TED about it. It doesn't particularly eliminate the big bang/big crunch theory out and out, it just means the idea has to be revised to include new information- it may be possible for the universe to speed up/slow down/speed up and we have no idea why yet.
Of course, it's always possible that the big bang big crunch is completely wrong and the universe works more like a self perpetuating fractal, which is more along the lines of my current beliefs.
The truth is that we don't have nearly enough information to move away from 'educated guesses' to 'definitive proofs'... but we'll get there eventually.
Most of the astrophysicists I know really don't contemplate the size or infinity of the universe, or 'what's on the edge'. I'd say 9 out of 10 of them feel like it's a waste of time to ponder (unless you are talking theoretical physicists).
Carl Sagan is flying because Carl Sagan is God. Yet he denies the possibility of God, thus angering his higher God-self. Therefor we must kill God as a sacrifice to God in order to mollify his anger.
Naw, I'm just kidding. Could you imagine if someone actually believed that shit?
The hell is he talking about with this universe shit. The world is a few thousand years old, the sky's a painting, and rain comes from a big gate, sort of like a drain but in reverse. I think we can all agree on that.