The Infinite Fringe

“Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.”    John Green

     Herein we collect musings — scientific, philosophical, whimsical and otherwise — from our followers, and from the works of notable thinkers, past and present, upon the strangely beautiful idea of infinity.  Is infinity real, or an imaginary construct that we use to fill the gaps in our knowledge of reality?  Do you ever wonder about the infinite, and the unsolvable puzzles it poses?  What is eternity and when did it start and how long will it last?  Are there infinite universes, and, if so, how do we avoid the logical conclusion that each one of those duplicates itself an infinite number of times, and, therefore, there must be an infinite number of identical copies of each of us, not to mention an infinite number of nearly identical copies?

     You are invited to share your own thoughts about infinity or ideas drawn from the literature of science, philosophy, religion or fantasy. If infinity fascinates you, then this is your community.  No ideas will be deemed  too mundane, or too crazy.  But also be mindful that we, like all humans, are not endowed with a capacity for infinite patience.

     In mathematics, infinity is not a number but it is preceded by a string of numbers of indeterminate length.  What is the number in that string that immediately precedes infinity, and if that number is also infinity, then what is the number right before that one?  And what is the meaning of an infinite series of infinities?  I am reminded of the oft-told story, with its many variations, about the cosmologist giving a  lecture, describing the mechanics of the solar system in which the earth orbits the sun.  An old woman from the back row interrupts, “Rubbish, I have a better theory. The earth rests on the back of giant tortoise.”  Not to be upstaged, the cosmologist calmly asks her what supports the tortoise.  The woman answers that the first tortoise is standing on the back of an even larger tortoise. Just as the cosmologist begins to ask what supports the second tortoise, the woman adroitly retorts, “You are a very clever young man, but it will do you no use here.  For you see sonny, its turtles all the way down.”   Steven Hawking has suggested the story may have come from a 20th Century lecture by Bertrand Russell.  Wikipedia dates it back to a Hindu story recanted in a  letter written by a Jesuit in 1599.