Robert,
You write: ''Incidentally, if you are going to use the Wikipedia article on the ''Universe'' you should at least be consistent: The universe is immensely large and possibly infinite in volume''.
1) I do not state that all information in Wikipedia is true. The Wikipedia tells us about the Modern Science but Modern Science has not yet completed, it is unfinished theory. However, the first proposition in this article is true: ''The universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists''.
2) Do you hope to find all my Hole Theory in Wikipedia? The essay copied from Wikipedia is not original. I created the NEW and ORIGINAL theory and I'm glad that my information is absent in Wikipedia. FQXi requires just ORIGINAL essays but not a copy of Wikipedia.
You write: ''The universe is immensely large and possibly infinite in volume. Further, there is also the model of a finite but unbounded Universe! Where is your 'outside'?''
1) The Universe is finite, please read the universetoday
2) My Universe also is unbounded - the Universe does NOT have the macroscopic bounds! In my finite universe, after having traveled in one direction on it, you can find yourself back to where you started. However, the Universe has the virtual, microscopic ''bounds'' (holes) which forbids the classical motion for microscopic particles only. The holes only can explain why quantum particles do not move classically and don't have trajectories.
3) The real Universe is a mixture of particles and holes. Who is outside and who is inside in this mixture? You see, the notion of ''outside'' is important for the ABSTRACT model of the continuous universe, where I try to introduce holes but not for the real Universe as a mixture of particles and holes.
4) The notion ''outside'' is not the key parameter for my theory; I can define holes as the perfect vacuum without space and time.
You write: ''Throughout our discussion a ''hole'' was ''nothing'' or ''edge of the Universe'', and now all of a sudden it is energy?''
Did you even read my essay? For example, there is a statement: ''Since a hole is able to accelerate particles, it possess action/energy''. In the real Universe a hole have energy, please read about the properties of holes. Theoretically inside of hole is nothing; However, you cannot observe the naked hole; the observer sees the hole as ''something'' because the hole is ''dressed'' by the REAL surrounding particles and the hole has energy.
I can explain how a hole can have energy. Consider a vacuum chamber that has been completely evacuated, so that the (classical) particle concentration is low. Now if we destroy the walls of the chamber then we'll see the implosion. In the same way, if we create the perfect vacuum (a hole) in the chamber, we'll see the implosion because a hole must destroy the chamber quickly. You see, all holes have energy because they are able to accelerate particles and create the pairs particle-antiparticle. In other words, theoretically inside of the hole is nothing but for the observer the hole is ''something'' because one have energy (implosion) and the hole is ''dressed'' by real particles.
You write: ''Clearly I have been wasting my time''
- You don't found any error in this theory. For this purpose, you should read this essay first.
Constantin