The Endless Horizon: Distinguishing Eternity from Infinity
1. Infinity: The Endless Count Infinity ( ∞ ) is a mathematical and physical concept. It is not a "large number," but rather the property of a set that never ends. The Mathematical View: In mathematics, infinity describes a limit. This is famously illustrated by Zeno’s Paradox . Zeno of Elea argued that to walk across a room, you must first travel halfway. To finish the remaining half, you must travel half of that distance, and so on. Mathematically, you are dividing space into an infinite number of points. How can a finite person traverse an infinite number of points? We "solve" this in calculus, but the philosophical tension remains. The Physical View: Astronomers grapple with whether the universe is infinite. As Galileo once noted, infinity behaves counter-intuitively: if you have an infinite...