Devans99

I think you will find that energy is always conserved with quantum fluctuations - nothing persists - if it appears, it disappears. And if it is not, I...

The point of this thread is to discuss whether the universe is infinite or not and maybe even reach a conclusion.

There is a danger of confusing very large with infinite. That is maybe what has happened to the universe; it is very large so it is convenient to appr...

And then some. Numbers have fixed values be they natural, real, matrix etc... Infinity has no fixed value so it cannot be a number. That would be a Po...

This thread is just about if the universe is infinite in size or not. Whether the universe was created would be a separate thread.

Yes you create a new post and at the bottom click on 'poll'...

I have a 1st in maths so I am aware of set theory. The basic fact that set theory ignores is that the infinite is unmeasurable so cannot have a size/c...

Creating something infinite is impossible (you would never finish creating it). Creating something finite is possible. So the universe being finite do...

I agree that infinity is not a number. I also believe there is a numerical property, the size of the universe, and this takes a number as a value (a c...

Fundamentally the infinite is unmeasurable. If it is unmeasurable, it has no size. If it has no size it cannot be compared with anything else.

You would claim that the set of natural numbers has a fixed size? If you cannot count something, how can it have a size?

Your mistake (and Cantor's) is thinking that 'larger' could make sense in terms of infinite sets. Something infinite has no fixed size so it cannot be...

But for any finite interval, we find more members in the second set than the first set. So we inductively understand that the second set is 'larger' t...

But bijection claims that these are of the same size: { 1, 4, 9, 16, ... } { 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, ... } When the 2nd is clearly l...

How for example has Galileo's paradox been resolved? 'Galileo's paradox is a demonstration of one of the surprising properties of infinite sets. In hi...

If you could kindly point out where these have been shown to be faulty? I assure you I would not repeat an argument if it had a known fault in it.

If there was no first cause, there would be an infinite regress in time. That is impossible; an infinite regress has no start; the start defines the f...

That is what they have done. The axiom of infinity could fit on the back of an envelope and just baldly states that infinity exists. They have no logi...

Well the 'something' must logically contain the first cause. The first cause is the explanation for everything else so my substitution is valid. I kno...

At last some sense... eternalism is possible. It seems to me that the members of this site are mostly presentists. I am often outnumbered when debatin...

If the 'something' in 'why is there something rather than nothing?' is the first cause then we have the question: 'why is there a first cause rather t...

But I know of no objections to my argument. Hence my reason for posting this argument is to gather any such objections. Philosophers tend to be more o...

I have an argument that rules out the 2nd: https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/5302/an-argument-for-eternalism/p1 So I think therefore there mus...

Well reasoned counter argument :(

Please say why are they not equivalent. There are different ways to show there is a first cause: 1. The argument in the op: can't get something from n...

Eventually, zooming in, you reach atom level. So the circumference is not infinite. I have addressed them - sorry for repeating myself- but If infinit...

- There are proofs that infinity does not exist. - There are no proofs that infinity does exist. - What exactly can we deduce from that apart from inf...

If we all held the same viewpoint there would be nothing to discuss thus no philosophy discussion forum.

On the subject of idiosyncratic definitions of infinite: ?+1=? In english, this means there exists something that when you change it, it does not chan...

The questions "why is there something rather than nothing" and "why is this something the way it is" both are equivalent to asking "What is the explan...

The physics of the situation that is wrong with an infinite universe: 1. An infinite universe should have no boundaries so cannot expand 2. There is n...

Thats a contradictory statement - size is always a number. If we adopted your approach to philosophy and science which seems to consist of 'I don't kn...

The universe could just be finite in time and space. That is a nice simple model that fits the facts. I don't think it's the case that we need some 'n...

Trying to clarify my last remarks: If infinity is a number; it is a number larger than any other number. So if infinity+1 (IE it grows) is a number, t...

The dictionary definition of infinity is: 'MATHEMATICS a number greater than any assignable quantity or countable number (symbol ?)' So if infinity gr...

Distant galaxies are flying apart at a rate that greater than the speed of light so it appears it is space is expanding. I guess it is expanding withi...

Fair point. Sorry I have a thing about Cantor.

An interesting perspective but it does go against the evidence of the red shift of distant galaxies.

Well for example (as I know someone who will criticise me for this) if you believe infinity and specifically an infinity of time is impossible then th...

Yes and you could add the fact we only ever observe finite things is strong inductive support for the proposition 'infinity does not exist'. I see it ...

Galaxies are moving apart from each other at greater than the speed of light. That is only possible if space/area is expanding.

The astronomers are telling that area is expanding. They liken the expansion of the universe to the expansion of a ballon with dots on it to represent...

Why so? It applies to the metric - that can't be both expanding and infinite at the same times so it applies to space/'the area'?

If it goes on forever, there is no room for any expansion; there is nowhere to expand to. I'm of the 2nd believe. That head spinning feeling when we t...

What then is your explanation for the redshift of distant galaxies?

Good point. If our universe is expanding and our universe is contained in the larger universe, that means the larger universe must be expanding too he...

I've spent years studying infinity and my conclusion is that the mathematical community have it wrong. Its a belief called Finitism: https://en.wikipe...

But the metric is expanding. So we can equate the metric to space without having to resort to a believe in spacetime. And if the metric is expanding, ...

The size of the universe is either infinite or not infinite. If it can grow, it is by definition not infinite. Only finite sized things can grow. The ...

The standard definition is: a number greater than any assignable quantity or countable number If there exists a number X+1, then X cannot be infinite....