Infinity.......

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Shame on you all. This is no way to talk about Essential Classics.

[Serial_Apologist]

Was that 4'33"?

[cloughie]

Actually - is this true? Can it be said that "infinity" has "no beginning" as well as being endless?

Perhaps I need to listen to the programme ....

Everything has to start somewhere, methinks! Now about that chicken and that egg! Oh and that minimalist music - a strange heading for something that just goes on and on and on....and on and on....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Everything has to start somewhere, methinks!

That' what occurred to me - but, if you're at a(ny) point in infinity, doesn't it surround you in every direction? (And, even with numbers, aren't there an infinite number of negative numbers before you reach the "starting point"?)

[Serial_Apologist]

I've always preferred thinking of infinity in terms of the non-finite - in other words, the idea that nothing intrinsically has boundaries, boundaries being divisions of our own convenient making.

Sunsets don't recognise boundaries.

[cloughie]

That' what occurred to me - but, if you're at a(ny) point in infinity, doesn't it surround you in every direction? (And, even with numbers, aren't there an infinite number of negative numbers before you reach the "starting point"?)

You could have a point there ... several in fact... no let’s face it an infinite number... just go on and on really!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I've always preferred thinking of infinity in terms of the non-finite - in other words, the idea that nothing intrinsically has boundaries, boundaries being divisions of our own convenient making.

Sunsets don't recognise boundaries.

Yes - the idea of "finish", "finite", "infinite", "definite" (one way to get kids to stop spelling it "definate").

[ardcarp]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLEmVxqye4g

[Padraig]

I have just been reading about this in the Observer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8mdIB1WxHI

[Serial_Apologist]

I have just been reading about this in the Observer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8mdIB1WxHI

Wow - what a wonderful lady; must look her up. I know so little about specific modern Japanese arts, so thanks for posting that clip, Padraig.

[Richard Barrett]

And, even with numbers, aren't there an infinite number of negative numbers before you reach the "starting point"?

It actually doesn't make a difference to the total number of integers whether you start at minus infinity or at zero or anywhere else, or if you only take even numbers, or numbers divisible by a trillion, since all of those sets exist in a one-to-one mapping with each other and the total number is called aleph-null. The mathematics of infinities is a fascinating subject, although going beyond the basics of it is well beyond my capabilities. Infinity and the Mind by Rudy Rucker would be my recommended reading on the matter. I found some of it pretty flummoxing though.