Let’s start this blog off with something big, literally! I may have solved the mystery of infinity!
On my lunch break today I watched The Science Channel and they had some nut job explaining how there was no such thing as infinity, he claims there must be a largest number and when you add one to it, the result is zero, at which point the number begins counting all over again, like the odometer in an old car. He went on to explain that the largest number was very very large! We could never even begin to comprehend it, but there must be a largest number. I think he may be on to something…
Another scholar on the program pointed out a problem with the idea of infinity where it could be shown mathematically that the infinity of a fractional number is actually larger than the infinity of whole numbers! Doesn’t this show that there is in fact a problem with the concept of infinity?
I didn’t see the end of the program and I don’t know if this idea is new, but I propose this answer. The universe is a huge spark of something that is actively growing from nothing. To find the largest number in existence we would need to know the smallest item we could use for measurement I believe at the moment science has demonstrated that protons and neutrons are made of three quarks each, so I guess a quark may be the smallest thing in the universe. Measure the entire universe in quarks and THAT is the largest finite number, the end, there is nothing bigger, until a moment later when the universe expands and the number changes!
Now of course you may say what about that number plus 1? How about that number times two? NO! There is no method of counting any higher and no place to store even one more quark. That number will not actually exist until there are enough things in existence to measure it.
I suppose I should name this number since I just discovered it… Did I discover something? No, I think I came up with a new theory for the definition of infinity.
