Wasting time with philosophical subjects

[Turanil]

Not sure it's worth mentioning and making a thread out of it, but as it's time to procrastinate:

So, Clark Ashton Smith once wrote: "In an infinite, eternal universe, there is nothing imaginable—or unimaginable—which might not happen, might not be true, somewhere or sometime."

To which I answer: "As such, even a creature that may imagine what absolutely cannot exist, could happen in such an universe".

Opinions?

 

[der_kluge]

I can imagine stuff that violates the basic laws of physics. That can't exist.

Secondly, we don't know if the universe is infinite. Even if it is, that doesn't mean there's an infinite amount of stuff in it.

One astronomer noted that if there were an infinite number of stars, the night sky would be as bright as the daytime, because the sky would be full of them.

 

[WayneLigon]

I had an answer for this, but it was so big I couldn't lift it.

 

[Turanil]

One astronomer noted that if there were an infinite number of stars, the night sky would be as bright as the daytime, because the sky would be full of them.

That's an interesting concept, but I have a hard time thinking about it.

For one thing, infinite number of stars is obviously in an infinite space. Now, stars are of finite size/duration/etc., so the finite amount of light they produce cannot fill an infinite space. As such, only a number of stars' light reaches the Earth, and the sky doesn't look like a bright sky.

I think it's better for my soon to be born headache, that the universe is finite.

 

[Kemrain]

I think it's better for my soon to be born headache, that the universe is finite.

Your universe if finite? What a wussy universe.

- Kemrain the Infinite.

 

[Jdvn1]

I can imagine stuff that violates the basic laws of physics. That can't exist.

Basic laws of physics are only true given certain limits.

Secondly, we don't know if the universe is infinite. Even if it is, that doesn't mean there's an infinite amount of stuff in it.

The universe being infinite is something that is assumed in the original statement. It's basically, "IF universe is infinite, THEN everything that is imagined does exist."

He's also not specifying this universe.

One astronomer noted that if there were an infinite number of stars, the night sky would be as bright as the daytime, because the sky would be full of them.

That's not necessarily true, I think. The sky is full of stars that we'll never see. Some we'll never see due to their distance away from us and some we'll never see due to gravity, and some we'll never see due to them being blocked by other things.

 

[SolitonMan]

So, Clark Ashton Smith once wrote: "In an infinite, eternal universe, there is nothing imaginable—or unimaginable—which might not happen, might not be true, somewhere or sometime."

To which I answer: "As such, even a creature that may imagine what absolutely cannot exist, could happen in such an universe".

Depends on what your definition of "infinite" is. "Endless" is a typical one, and typically how I understand the term. Which doesn't necessarily imply "exhaustive", or "consisting of all possibilities". For example, the set of all even numbers is infinite, but it doesn't contain any odd numbers. Infinite, but not exhaustive.

I find the concept more palatable when expressed as something like, "In an infinite, eternal universe, all things possible eventually happen." Or at least I would, if it were possible that I existed.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

So, Clark Ashton Smith once wrote: "In an infinite, eternal universe, there is nothing imaginable—or unimaginable—which might not happen, might not be true, somewhere or sometime."

To which I answer: "As such, even a creature that may imagine what absolutely cannot exist, could happen in such an universe".

Opinions?

In an infinite universe where everything is possible you have imagined a creature that can imagine the impossible, therefore you have bound the universe and it is no longer infinite.

Or so I imagine

 

[der_kluge]

Here's one a friend of mine came up with:

If it takes a finite number of words to express every idea in the realm of possible ideas, then there are a finite number of ideas in the known universe.


If an idea can be conveyed in say, 1,000 pages. And the words on those pages are finite (given a finite alphabet), then there are a finite number of ideas in the known universe.

 

[Jdvn1]

... If there are a finite numbers of words to express every idea that doesn't mean there are a finite number of ideas. It's just that some ideas can't be adequately expressed.