A few questions that do my head in . Infinity No 1 .

Well i find myself once again looking at the new topics and assume most of the world must be asleep . It is at times like this that i revert back to a concept that does my head in . Infinity . Now i get the numbers thing , one plus one , ten plus one , a billion plus one , that is easy to understand . But i look around the room , it has 4 walls , i look at my country , it is surrounded by water , my planet even , it has an atmosphere and outside that is space , kind of finite i suppose . But when i think of the universe my i cant grasp the idea of infinity . Everything i know apart from numbers is finite . I can not wrap my head around the concept that space has no edges , no borders , no anything it just goes on . Forever . And ever . And ever . Am i even supposed to be able to understand the infinity concept . I hope not because i dont . And the bloody big bang theory does not help . So this thing the size of a pea (dont flame i saw in a documentary on tv ) explodes and the universe was born . How the hell do you compress earth down to the size of a pea let alone everything else . Arrrgh . So this pea was sitting there for god knows how long in a place with no borders and it decides to explode . Why , was someone smoking . But it gets worse .Humans , well anything that lives really . We are born , live varying amounts of time then we die . What the hell is up with that . It does not make sense . Maybe one day we will get so smart that we will be bored and decide to compress the universe and start over again . Or maybe AI is the next step . Now i know the god bothers will be along if anyone actually reads this , but god has lost his street cred . It has been a while since he or his rep have dropped by , so try not to go there . And even if there was a god , where does he live . OK thats about it for now . Perhaps this could be in rant , mods etc . Cheers all .

Only definition of infinity that makes sense .

“The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy offers this definition of
the word "Infinite".
Infinite: Bigger than the biggest thing ever and then some.
Much bigger than that in fact, really amazingly immense, a
totally stunning size, "wow, that's big", time. Infinity is just so
big that by comparison, bigness itself looks really titchy.
Gigantic multiplied by colossal multiplied by staggeringly
huge is the sort of concept we're trying to get across here.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

a reply to: hutch622

The Arrow Paradox.

An archer shoots an arrow from point A (archers position) to point B (the target). We agree that the arrow travels from point A to point B.

In order for the arrow to arrive at point B, it must first travel half that distance. In order to travel that "half distance" it must first travel half of that "half distance".........and half that distance, then half that distance etc etc etc....as in maths, it therefore will travel an infinite number of "half distances" thus NEVER arriving at point B. (think - decimal places.0.00015639507846241233 etc etc etc etc etc go on forever)

BUT, it arrives at point B...does it not?

IMO, that is infinity - it is both infinitesimally minute and massive in it's size.

You're not alone. The human brain (biologically) isn't able to conceive infinitesimals or infinities very well. Through Evolutionary processes we are more "designed" (I use that term in an excessively loose manner) to focus on smaller equations and numbers (just not the infinitesimally small).

To further your confusion (and I apologize for this), the planet, our cities, and your home are not closed systems. Meaning that they are continuously fluctuating; new information coming in, and also current information dissipating. Those walls can crumble, those cities can grow, and the atmosphere wasn't always as it was today. Which means that our planet, your home, and our cities are also infinitely changing and never static.

Quantum mechanics deals with the nanoscopic things within our universe, where as physics is kind of the study of the very large. Perhaps dwelling into those two branches of science will help you with your understanding of infinities?

I'd suggest looking at videos that include talks by Michio Kaku. He can brilliantly explain very complicated concepts, very simply.

a reply to: hutch622

I'm gonna mess with your head in a nice way

So this thing the size of a pea (dont flame i saw in a documentary on tv ) explodes and the universe was born . How the hell do you compress earth down to the size of a pea let alone everything else .

Where was this pea sized thing ?

Cody

a reply to: cody599

In the middle apparently . ???????????????

We should start a club. Infinite space has been a sore on my mind's backside forever. Where can infinitely expanding space "expand" into? Then, what does that space reside within, and so forth? My best guess would be that we may live in an aspect of nothingness. I'm positive that an infinity of questions we can't comprehend are out there waiting for us to understand, or not....Good Luck though.



a reply to: hutch622

does the universe really allow infinite i dont think it does ,everything has a life cycle from planets ,suns,comets,ant,humans flies yes they all have a different time cycle ..but none have a infinite life cycle so in my opinion infinite space cannot excist either and is a figment of someones imagination ..but if our thought can effect our world will we bring into Existence an infinite space ?.

a reply to: Sublimecraft

An archer shoots an arrow from point A (archers position) to point B

I get what you are saying , i think . But what i am about is if the arrow launches from A but B is always a metre in front . Wher does the arrow stop . Mind you i think something quicker than an arrow is required .

a reply to: donktheclown

I'm positive that an infinity of questions we can't comprehend are out there waiting for us to understand, or not....Good Luck though.

Oh goody . I have not even gone close to some of the wacky questions i have .

Seems simple enough to me... lots of things are finite, space is not.

originally posted by: Kali74
Seems simple enough to me... lots of things are finite, space is not.

My thoughts exactly. But, can empty space be considered? because if it truely is empty space then is it not...nothing?

a reply to: VoidHawk

It is something. A planet, asteroids, stars could occupy empty space but just don't for whatever reason. Like an empty room, it's still a room whether or not there's furniture in it.

iMAGINE a reply to: Kali74

Seems simple enough to me... lots of things are finite, space is not.

Thats my problem . You might be able to wrap your head around a place that has no boundary , but i cant . Imagine if you fired a bullet that goes a gazillion times the speed of light ( yes i made a new number ) and it goes and goes and goes . It never finishes , not soon , never . If you can wrap your head around that you are a better person than me .

I tend to think of the big bang as a pre-universe reaching it's limit of expansion, under-going a " big rip " so to speak. By breaching its' limitations the energy & matter transcended the plane they existed on, and broke through into our universe, causing the big bang. Once the expansion of our universe reaches its' limitation it will do the same thing.

Kind of like a cosmic ascension.

Imagine a water balloon on a tap / faucet as our universe. Turning on the water is akin to the big bang, and our universe expands as the flow continues, until eventually the balloon bursts, and everything within it is suddenly in another realm, dimension or plane of existence - the kitchen sink.

a reply to: hutch622

In infinite space what is the center?

Point of reference is relative is it not? Just as we humans, not too long ago thought our earth was the center of the universe

a reply to: hutch622

Well that's the thing, if you were to fire a bullet in space... it would never stop until it hit something or came to close to a star and melted.

the universe is not infinite. problem solved.

a reply to: fixitwcw

Where does it stop and what is in or on the other side .

the universe is not infinite. problem solved.

a reply to: hutch622

no one knows. but there are many unanswerable questions. how can an electron be both a particle and a wave? it just is. everything has a beginning and an end. even the stars. the only exception to this that i can imagine is time.... which may actually not exist, so a more appropriate word would be nothingness.

time is not relevent ,it only exists in this galaxy,in another galaxy time would not adhere to 24 hour clock as it may have more suns or moons,time is a human comprehension and there are many time streams for us yet to discover,dont ask how i know some things just are...but please dont get caught in the time scam



this time thing will be huge when we traverse the final frontier,,even the rate a brick falls from the sky in metres per second will have to be re-examined for each planet


dam you would need to adjust your brakes depending on what galaxy your in