I'm a big fan of Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen who wrote "The Science of Discworld" series of 4 books. In it they basically say infinity is science's way of saying "We have no idea what this looks like, but the maths works".
Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: December 12, 2024, 7:37 am
Thread Rating:
Infinity
|
Infinity, I went there once. Now I am beyond.
(September 15, 2019 at 5:14 pm)Darwinian Wrote: How many other people think that when equations produce the answer 'infinity' that they are not deep and profound but actually are simply nonsense and point to the fact that we have no idea what's going on. Since infinity is a concept rather than a number it's pretty clear that you've done something horribly wrong with your math if that's what you're getting as an answer. And yes, singularities are likely a product of our ignorance because no mainstream science predicts them. Quantum Mechanics lacks a theory of quantum gravitation, so it can't go there. General Relativity predicts a singularity IF you take the equations that far, but the big warning label on the box says that GR doesn't hold up at very small scales, so anybody using GR to predict a singularity simply doesn't understand GR's limitations.
GR assumes that you can push to infintely smaller amounts of spacetime, all the way down to zero which produces infinities when you try to calculate density.
However if we live in a quantum universe then spacetime is granular and there is a definite point (Planck Constant) which would mean that it isn't a zero and thus singularities do not achieve infinite density. However the Theory of Everything has not yet been written so we can't square the circle. Quote:I don't understand why you'd come to a discussion forum, and then proceed to reap from visibility any voice that disagrees with you. If you're going to do that, why not just sit in front of a mirror and pat yourself on the back continuously?-Esquilax Evolution - Adapt or be eaten.
If you need a better grasp on the idea of eternity or infinity - you need to take a long road trip in a small car with your mother-in-law.
My mother in law is an angel.
Either motion is an illusion or we perform infinite tasks all the time. You win for now, Zeno. But this isn't over.
|
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
|
Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)