Thursday, January 3, 2008

Infinite Education


Infinity is not very easy for earthlings to understand. We seem to have an O.K. time dealing with numbers being infinite. For example thinking of a really really big number and then just adding 1 to it,,, or adding 1 million to it and making it that much larger. A very special number in math is pi, and it is a number that continues on with an infinite number of decimal places,,, as far as we can tell. We seem fine with that idea and infinity in the case of numbers is widely accepted. Einstein popularized the fact that both Time and Space were not absolute but infinite. Most earthlings seem fine with accepting this on the basis that Einstein is really smart and knows more than them. I would like to spend a little time on explaining the facts on infinite Space and Time; actually it is pretty much easier to take in and grasp than you might think.
Let's start with the easy one you already seem to understand; numbers are infinite. The reason this is so easy is because when we use numbers we can always add 1 on to any number we already know and then add 1 on to the result of that number and so on. That example doesn't work as well with Space or Time; you can add 1 second onto any minute that just passed but how will that help prove that time is infinite? To prove that both Space and Time are infinite we will have to use another method to visualize how numbers are infinite. When anything is considered infinite it is both infinitely large and infinitely small. The small end of infinity is often overlooked. So lets take a number and start dividing it by 2 (or in half). You can grab a calculator if you like because the result will be exponentially small.
So 100 divided by 2 is 50.
50 divided by 2 is 25.
25 divided by 2 is 12.5.
12.5 divided by 2 is 6.25.
Keep dividing by 2 and you get to a number less than 1 (0.78125). Depending on the calculator you will soon reach a number that looks like this, 7.62939453125E-4 (or, 7.62939453125 x 10^-4,,, OR, .000762939453125). Ultimately you will continue to see numbers with more zeros between the decimal and the first number other than zero, or larger and larger negative numbers at the end of the number,,, however you will NEVER reach zero. This is a trait of infinity; no matter how many times you halve something it will never reach a zero amount of that something.
If we earthlings can accept that for numbers we will have a much easier time proving that Space and Time are in fact infinite as well. For those who don't know, space is measured in distance or length or volume et cetera. So let's say we take the distance of 100cm and we start dividing it by 2, we would get 50cm. Do you see where this is going? Ultimately we will result in distances that are very small (relatively to 100cm) but will never reach a distance that is zero; hence distance (or Space) is infinite. Time is pretty much just the same story with different units; take the time of 100secs and start dividing it by 2 and so on and you will also never reach zero. Hence there is an infinite amount of time in 100secs.
The massconception is that we are slaves to our units of measurement. We understand 1 meter because it is about an arm's length. We understand 24 hours because it is the time it takes for the Earth to make 1 full rotation on its axis. A Second means nothing if the Earth isn't associated with its current behavior around the Sun, a Second is just a lump of Time. Our measurements are the only way we can really understand and capture Space and Time, and all of our measurements are relative to the tangible universe around us. If the Earth stopped spinning and slowly started drifting into the Sun and all earthlings burned up would Time stop? The answer is most definitely NO. It's similar to the pre-Copernicus model of the universe where the Earth is the center of the solar system, earthlings just assume the universe revolves around them and it really truly is difficult to break our self-centered-ness.
So why does this even matter, you might ask? Well if both Space and Time are infinite then the distance between two atoms is just as important as the distance between two planets and everything in between. Earthlings must understand Time and Space without units before being able to understand a universe. I will use infinite Space and Time later in exploring the Sub-Atomic Universe (or "Supervelocity Universe").

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