The answer was: Olber's Paradox ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers'_paradox ) And/or in terms of long answers, a universe where it holds true. Not this place, but another --- Hint that it's something hypothetical. Infinite and grander --- The size of it. Told you it's pretty literal My stars light up the sky --- Actual descriptions of the sky conditions But no life has ever seen them --- Hint that the conditions aren't good for life. Why? I said that the "parallel universe" answers were super close, however this is actually about a very specific case of them. It was actually a relevant cosmological thought experiment, long before any sort of quantum theory (so nothing to do with that), or inflation theory (so nothing to do with randomly generated physical constants). The reason I didn't feel comfortable with the "parallel universe" answers is because: a) it's not actually "parallel" to anything. Someone can make an infinite amount of alternative universe just by having a "a little bit stronger gravity", or "a little bit weaker nuclear forces". However, none of them have been such an important point of reference, to even have their conditions summed up by a name. In fact, it somewhat depends on the physical laws not being too different, having only to do with size. Anyway, Starwhip can go next ^^