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Fadi Zaghmout

The infinity bug

Infinity does scare me.

It is a thing that I can’t really comprehend when I apply it on anything in this world. It even gets scarier when applied to time, the infinite beginning and end of time. Or even when applied to space, the infinite amount of space you find if you are going larger or even going smaller.

For instance, if our universe is finite where telescopes can reach its boundaries, what would lie behind those boundaries? Nothing? If you move in the nothing, where would you reach?

What if you come to a perspective where the whole universe is just a tiny atom? and you conintued going up in scale where the universe(atom) is connected with other universes(atoms) to form a matter in a bigger universe, and go up so that the new universe is just an atom in a bigger one?! and continue, continue…
Isn’t there a stop to that?

What if you go the other way around, with microscopes now looking into sub-atomic particles. What if that microscope can magnify those particles to a scale of our universe and look inside the particle universe, and continue this process on and on?

What if you go back in time to the big bang? what if the big bang is the final point of a previous stage? what if you continued going on with time in that direction? and continued and continued..

What if you go forward in time, till the end of time? would there be an end? if yes, what’s next? Next! Next! Next!

I feel trapped in an infinite universe. It does scare me not being able to understand this issue. It almost like there is a bug in my brain where a loop keeps on going on when I try to figure out this logical problem. That tiny reaction in my brain triggers some fear emotions that encapsulate the whole issue.

Is it an intentional bug that has been inflicted by a creator?

Or is it a wrong of perception of how the world goes?

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Responses

  1. Qwaider قويدر Avatar
    Qwaider قويدر

    He who thinks too much, is thinking too much 🙂There are certain things that don’t make any difference. Knowing, or not knowing .. makes absolutely no difference!

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  2. Hamza Avatar
    Hamza

    I once read that humans use around 1% of their brains. Maybe if God let us use a further 10%, then we might be able to comprehend our universe

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  3. Jamal-Odysseas Maaita Avatar
    Jamal-Odysseas Maaita

    A wonderful topic my dear friend!!!I think that we can make a very good discussion on this one.If we want to talk about time we must see what time is??Time is a property of matter on a meaning that we can see time because we are getting older, we see things change and all this is a function of what we called time.Matter is a phylosophical category wich means THE OBJECTIVE EXISTENCE.Now, matter is infinite because it was always here (There is no need to put an outer creator for the universe!!!) and it is infinite in the comparison of the space in a large scale (Stars, Galaxies, e.t.c…) and in the micro scale (atoms, protons, quarks, and whatever else we will find….) So time is infinte too because it is a property of the matter that is infinte!!!

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  4. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Qwaider, you are right, sometimes we thing too much! but yet it is scary when you realize that there is something you simply just cant comprehend.Hamza, I wonder if we use the other 10% of our brain if we would comprehend this or not.J.o, I am glad you responsed this way so that we can really discuss it.So now that matter and time are infinite, why do I feel it is hard to absorb? How can everything be infinite? and if there is a finite boundaries, there must be something out of it, so things must be infinite. But the idea of infinity itself scares me. Do you have an explanation?

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  5. Jamal-Odysseas Maaita Avatar
    Jamal-Odysseas Maaita

    I will give you an example to show you that infinity is eveyrwhere around us and is nothing scary!!How many numbers are between 0 and 1???There is infinite number of numbers between 0 and 1. If i ask you to give me one you will say for example 0.1 someone else might say 0.01 other 0.001 or 0.0001 or 0.0000001 e.t.c. so there is infinite number of numbers between any 2 numbers!!!!about the boundaries i don’t think that there is a boundary in the universe!!! Even if you talk about many smaller universies (as you do in your first post) the whole universe must have infinite numbers of small universies!!!maybe you are scary about the meaning of infinity because we are all taught that everything is finite. If you study physics (at least at our university in Thessaloniky)in the first year you would have been introduced to many “dizzy” meanings. For example if you want to measure the length of a table what is the right answer?? in physics you never say it is 1m because there are always errors so you must say 1m (+/-) 0.1m this is “dizzy” too but this is the propriate and the right way to mesure things. The same with infinity it is a “Dizzy” meaning but our world is for sure infinite.

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  6. mohammad Avatar
    mohammad

    heeeeeeeeey observer , remember me !! hehe , am back .Well , the idea scares me too , but I still believe that time and space are infinite , in the sense that the further you go the more you have to go further , got it !!! it’s one big cycle , INFINITE , as much as you go forward in time there’s still a tomorrow , there’s no boundaries , no beginning and no end or at least that’s what I think .@ qwaider : trust me , it does make a difference , a BIG difference , this can change your life , but since you’re not thinking about it then I’ll advice you not to .

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  7. Devil's Mind Avatar
    Devil's Mind

    I disagree with J.O. Metaphysical plausibility != Actualityunless of course you believe in parallel universes hypothesis.We don’t know whether or not our “universe” is simply an atom in a larger universe or not!! It might be, it might not. Even if that bigger universe turned out to be an atom in a yet bigger universe, doesn’t <>grantee<> that we can repeat this indefinitely. Same goes for going to smaller parts. We don’t know because we don’t have the tools to measure that.On a different note, if what we think is the universe turned out to be a part of a larger universe, doesn’t this mean that the real universe is THAT larger universe?! We might argue that the universe is <>by definition<> all that exists, in which case, the problem proposed by the Arab Observer is solved that there is only one universe – by the definition.Infinity is a mathematical representation for large values. Infinity is a relative term, for example, in some electrical systems, 1 millisecond is an infinite amount time!!! If we define time as change in state, then that circuit reaches “steady state” (no change state) in maybe a nanosecond!!Mathematical definitions DONT correspond to physical phenomenas. So the fact that mathematics has a definition for infinity doesn’t mean that there is a corresponding infinite value in the physical world.PS: Qwaider, “There are certain things that don’t make any difference.”… I can assure you infinity isn’t one of those things that don’t make a difference. Maybe you never heard about non-Euclidean geometry, but this concept made a big difference for Einstein, given that Euclidean and < HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_euclidian_geometry" REL="nofollow">non-Euclidean<> geometries are identical in the finite plane, and only differ in the infinite plane!!

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  8. Saadna Avatar
    Saadna

    Wonderful post. You inspired me to write my own post of philosophy. But 2 paragraphs into it, I started focusing on how great ideal Communism could be 🙂Infinity scares me too. :-/

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  9. Jamal-Odysseas Maaita Avatar
    Jamal-Odysseas Maaita

    Devils Mind: Maybe there is a misunderstanding. I do not say that there are parallel Universies!!! I say that the universe is infinite (there are no boundaries on it). I prefer the meaning that you say that the universe or maybe better the matter (as a phylosophical category) is everything that exists: The objective existance and not the space where we live.This is for sure a philosophical discussion. I mean the main question in all this talking is how the universe exists?? It was created by someone or not??? If we give the answer on that question we give then the answer about the infinity of the universe!!!!

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  10. Devil&apos;s Mind Avatar
    Devil's Mind

    I did not say that you believed in parallel universes, what I meant to say is that you assumed (and the Observer too) that if something is “possible” then it exists!!So just because an electron might possibly be divided into parts, doesn’t necessitate that to be true.Also, just because in mathematical definitions the space axis may extend to infinity, doesn’t mean that something “materialistic” exists there.In response to the Observer’s wonderment, I think (but I don’t know for sure) that what lies outside the “boundary” of the materialistic universe is NOT different from vacuum as we know it.

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  11. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    I knew that devil’s mind would give us a good input on this. I enjoyed reading the exchange of ideas between you and J.O. You two are brilliantSaad, I will check you blog right after this. I am sure it would be something hilarious 😛Now back to the discussion. As Devi’s mind said, it might be vacuum that surrounds our universe, but how much vacum is there? If you keep on moving in that vacum where would you reach? Infinite vacum? Does that make our universe as nearly *nothing* in that sea of vacum? What about infinit time? and infinite movement in the small size way?J.O, yes, it seems there are many infinite things are us, usually when you move in a certain direction of anything it doesnt seem to be an end.But it is a scary concept for me. I don’t know why!

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  12. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Ops, I forget to welcome you Mohammad back :). Ofcourse I remember you. Where have you been man? Are you blogging again?

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  13. Devil&apos;s Mind Avatar
    Devil's Mind

    <>“Does that make our universe as nearly *nothing* in that sea of vacuum? “<> – Pretty much so I guess!!

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  14. Mohanned Avatar
    Mohanned

    human mind is finite, so making the human mind infinite will only lead to carziness,bad judgements, accepting bad behaviours, and maybe in less than .000001 some innovation..Always put limits as you advance, don’t live limitless, after you achieve a predetermined limit you can hop one more step!!

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  15. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Well, simply put: Vacuum. I will give you an example: If you go back to school days , in your science classes, you will remeber that since experiment about putting a ringing alarm in a vacuumed glassware. When you suck the air out of the glassware , you wont here the aralm ringing. do u remeber this very particuar experience. My question to you : whats in there since the air is sucked out ? simply … vacuum. Mtero Bear

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  16. The Observer Avatar
    The Observer

    Mohannad, I guess our minds are not finite. I can reach far in our universe with my mind just sitting here in front of my pc screen!Mtero Bear, then our universe could be surrounded in vacum that is trapped in a bottle that lies in a larger universe! lolWell thinking about it, with the infinite no boudaries we have, whether it is vacum or anything else in that vacum that we can only reach there with our imagination till one day we find a mean to explore it.

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