RE: The Principle of Contingent Causation: The Impossibility of Infinite Regress.
July 25, 2023 at 5:51 pm
(This post was last modified: July 25, 2023 at 5:53 pm by Nishant Xavier.)
Grandizer said:
Then that concedes the argument. We got to 0, therefore, we didn't start from - infinity.
Agree with this. You could have started with 10^10Trilion^100Trillion and come to 0, but not from an actual number called -infinite seconds ago. Even one of the persons in Angrboda's video conceded this: the distance between the finite and the infinite cannot be transcended by successive addition.
That would be a potential infinity, not an actual infinity. Potential infinity is ok, which just means the series keeps on expanding to a very large number like the trillion thing I mentioned above. Actual infinity you will never reach, like in the example of adding 1,2,3 etc on pages of paper I gave. And why? Because the distance between the finite and infinite cannot be traversed by the successive addition of one number to the other.
Here is Wiki on Actual Infinity contrasted with Potential Infinity: "Actual infinity is to be contrasted with potential infinity, in which a non-terminating process (such as "add 1 to the previous number") produces a sequence with no last element, and where each individual result is finite and is achieved in a finite number of steps. As a result, potential infinity is often formalized using the concept of a limit."
Taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actual_infinity
Quote:You can't reach -infinity from 0. No one is saying that you can.
Then that concedes the argument. We got to 0, therefore, we didn't start from - infinity.
Quote:What some people are saying is that there is nothing logically wrong with counting backwards forever. If you have a moment t0, you can have a moment prior to that called t(-1), then t(-2), t(-3), and so on forever. And if you then reverse direction so you're moving back forwards, you can start from any moment prior to t0 and come back to t0 eventually.
Agree with this. You could have started with 10^10Trilion^100Trillion and come to 0, but not from an actual number called -infinite seconds ago. Even one of the persons in Angrboda's video conceded this: the distance between the finite and the infinite cannot be transcended by successive addition.
Quote:But just as you can't reach a specific moment called -infinity counting backwards, you can't start from a specific moment called -infinity counting forwards. But you can go as far back as you want in time, then start counting from there all the way back to t0. And if there is no limit to how far back you can go, then that's what indicates a negative infinity.
That would be a potential infinity, not an actual infinity. Potential infinity is ok, which just means the series keeps on expanding to a very large number like the trillion thing I mentioned above. Actual infinity you will never reach, like in the example of adding 1,2,3 etc on pages of paper I gave. And why? Because the distance between the finite and infinite cannot be traversed by the successive addition of one number to the other.
Here is Wiki on Actual Infinity contrasted with Potential Infinity: "Actual infinity is to be contrasted with potential infinity, in which a non-terminating process (such as "add 1 to the previous number") produces a sequence with no last element, and where each individual result is finite and is achieved in a finite number of steps. As a result, potential infinity is often formalized using the concept of a limit."
Taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actual_infinity
