Infinity

[Smedders]

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".

[no one]

Infinity, I went there once. Now I am beyond.

[Paleophyte]

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.

For example, the singularity which has infinite mass and density is a product of our ignorance and simply cannot exist.

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.

[Mr Greene]

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.

[onlinebiker]

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.

[LastPoet]

My mother in law is an angel.

[onlinebiker]

My mother in law is an angel.

Ya.gotta say that.


Every guy does...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Infinity, I went there once. Now I am beyond.

I represent Ms. Beyonce in the pending copyright infringement suit she's bringing against you.

[LastPoet]

My mother in law is an angel.

Ya.gotta say that.


Every guy does...

She is really an angel. She is dead.

[Ranjr]

Either motion is an illusion or we perform infinite tasks all the time.  You win for now, Zeno.  But this isn't over.