Infinity
Definition
Both the infinitely large and the infinitely small are figments of mathematician's minds.
Context
The idea of Infinity originated with the pre-socratic Greek philosopher by 500 BC. At that them Zero created a list of paradoxes that resulted from this idea. His first paradox was that a running could not complete a course in a finite amount of time as the runner would first have to complete the first half of the full course and then the first half of the rest of the course, ad infinitum. This would require him to complete an infinite number of acts.
Result
Infinities are not a feature of the real world which, on inspection, appears to be limited both in the total size and in the smallest size.[1]...there is a much more radical solution to the paradox. This consists in the consideration that we are by no means obliged to believe that the mathematical space-time representation of motion is physically significant for arbitrarily small space and time intervals, but rather have every hasis to suppose that that mathematical model extrapolates the facts of a certain realm of experience namely the motions within the orders of magnitude hitherto accessible to our observation, in the sense of a simple concept construction, similarly to the way the mechanics of continua completes an extrapolation in which a continuous filling of the space with matter is assumed.
There is no such thing as Infinity
David Deutsch in his 2011 book The Beginning of Infinity, he argues that infinity is not just a mathematical abstraction but a conceptual gateway to unlimited knowledge and progress. He considers any statement that Infinity is not real is bad Philosophy.[2]
- What Deutsch Means by “Infinity”
- He uses “infinity” metaphorically to describe the unbounded potential of human knowledge.
- The “beginning of infinity” refers to the Enlightenment-era shift toward fallibilism—the idea that all knowledge is provisional and improvable.
- Deutsch believes that once a culture embraces good explanations and critical thinking, it enters a trajectory of potentially infinite progress.
Watch David Deutsch debate infinity with George Ellis and Sara Walker at https://iai.tv/video/the-edge-of-the-universe?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=pinned-comment&utm_campaign=david-deutsch-on-the-foundations-of-reality
References
- ↑ S. C. Kleene, Introduction to Metamathematics Van Nostrand (1952) pp. 54ff ISBN 978-0444100887
- ↑ David Deutsch, There is only one interpretation of quantum mechanics The Institute of Art and Ideas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilEjjnkgTfQ
