Greetings

I'm BioLogos, more commonly known as Matt. BioLogos just means Theistic Evolution but sounds cooler. I'm a "moderate" Christian (by my own self-defined standards). So why am I here? I like talking with reasonable people, and generally atheists (and those who hang around with them) are a good reasonable bunch.

Some more about me:

• I'm a trainee maths teacher.
  
• I'm 22.
  
• I live in Southampton.
  
• I go to an Anglican church (Anglicans are defined as "those who believe all true propositions" and they have a strong preference for tea).
  
• Ales and red wines are my beverages of choice (these are well-combined with pizza and roast beef respectively).
  
• I love reading about religion, philosophy, history, etc, though rarely non-fiction (though I've always loved Douglas Adams).
  
• I hate politics, and shall almost certainly be spoiling my paper in this year's election.
  
• I like my music either quirky or deep - from Zappa to Joni Mitchell.
  
• Anything else you'd like to know? Just ask.
  

(February 12, 2010 at 12:11 pm)BioLogos Wrote: Greetings
I'm BioLogos, Anything else you'd like to know? Just ask.

Can a swallow carry a coconut from the tropics to England?

(February 12, 2010 at 12:17 pm)Dotard Wrote: Can a swallow carry a coconut from the tropics to England?

Ni!

Greetings! Another teacher! And you seem to be able to read and write! Impressive!

(February 12, 2010 at 1:05 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: And you seem to be able to read and write!

Only barely: I'm a mathematician.

Tell me: is it only a spell checker that makes you sound coherent?

(February 12, 2010 at 1:07 pm)BioLogos Wrote:

(February 12, 2010 at 1:05 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: And you seem to be able to read and write!

Only barely: I'm a mathematician.

Awesome

You should have been here for our 0.999... = 1 discussions.

Is infinity really a number or simply a concept dreamed up by mathematicians that has no place in the real world?

Infinity is a mathematical concept; it can't exist in the real world (unless the non-observable universe is infinite). This is why physicists have trouble understanding what happens in a black hole, because their calculations always have infinities in them which isn't good in a finite universe.

Of course in mathematics you have two types of infinity, countable and non-countable. The set of all integers between 0 and positive infinity is countably infinite in size, same as the set of all integers between 0 and negative infinity. The set of all real numbers between 0 and 1 is non-countably infinite.

(February 12, 2010 at 2:05 pm)Tiberius Wrote:

(February 12, 2010 at 1:07 pm)BioLogos Wrote:

(February 12, 2010 at 1:05 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: And you seem to be able to read and write!

Only barely: I'm a mathematician.

Awesome

You should have been here for our 0.999... = 1 discussions.

Oh boy. Please tell me the dissenters were kicked out.

---

(February 12, 2010 at 2:09 pm)Tiberius Wrote: Infinity is a mathematical concept; it can't exist in the real world (unless the non-observable universe is infinite). This is why physicists have trouble understanding what happens in a black hole, because their calculations always have infinities in them which isn't good in a finite universe.

Of course in mathematics you have two types of infinity, countable and non-countable. The set of all integers between 0 and positive infinity is countably infinite in size, same as the set of all integers between 0 and negative infinity. The set of all real numbers between 0 and 1 is non-countably infinite.

Since [0,1] is uncountable, there exist uncountably many points along any finite length in the universe. Why is this not a counterexample to your statement in bold?