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Utopian Turtletop. Monsieur Croche's Bête Noire. Contact: turtletop [at] hotmail [dot] com
Friday, March 04, 2005
AN INFINITE NUMBER OF UNICORNS
Tuesday I took the 2-year-old to the zoo; we had a fine time as usual. At one point I really wanted to see the unicorn. We didn’t see it.
“Infinity” has no more extra-imaginative existence than unicorns. The universe is finitely large and it can only be broken down into finitely small parts. Zeno’s paradox assumes that any operation can be broken down into an infinite number of sub-operations: before I can walk ten feet, I have to walk five; before five, two-and-a-half; before two-and-a-half, one-and-a-quarter; before one-and-a-quarter, five-eighths; before five-eighths, five-16ths; before 5/16ths, 5/32nds; and so on, AD INFINITUM.
But. Infinity has no extra-mental existence. Zeno’s paradox is based on a false assumption.
“Infinity goes up on trial,” said Bob Dylan. I am ready to pronounce my verdict. Guilty.
Tuesday I took the 2-year-old to the zoo; we had a fine time as usual. At one point I really wanted to see the unicorn. We didn’t see it.
“Infinity” has no more extra-imaginative existence than unicorns. The universe is finitely large and it can only be broken down into finitely small parts. Zeno’s paradox assumes that any operation can be broken down into an infinite number of sub-operations: before I can walk ten feet, I have to walk five; before five, two-and-a-half; before two-and-a-half, one-and-a-quarter; before one-and-a-quarter, five-eighths; before five-eighths, five-16ths; before 5/16ths, 5/32nds; and so on, AD INFINITUM.
But. Infinity has no extra-mental existence. Zeno’s paradox is based on a false assumption.
“Infinity goes up on trial,” said Bob Dylan. I am ready to pronounce my verdict. Guilty.
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