 Silkweaver says: Isn't it fascinating to know we will never run out of numbers, not even prime numbers ?  Theoretically yes, but I ask myself: what if numbers behave like matter (e.g. atoms) or energy (waves)? It would seem that at a certain point (towards infinity), the individual numbers would loose their ability to distinct themselves, so they'll merge or dissolve thus the range never reaches infinity. After all, what we call 'infinity' could be nothing more just than a thougt, like '-1'. There's no instance of any matter or non-matter that exists in a '-1' quantity. So, practically (as in counting stars or counting thoughts), there's no guarantee that infinity exists, wich also implies that we have 2 reasons - instead of one - for not ever going to get an unlimited range of numbers: a) we d... You have a point there janclip, though not a conventional one. It seems that space time matter and energy on one hand, and abstract concepts like numbers on the other hand, do not belong to the same descriptive domain, thus to think of one in terms of the other demands a kind of a bridge which involves pretty heavy philosophical stuff if possible at all. The concept of mathematical infinity that was developed by mathematician Cantor, elaborates clearly how can we think about infinity. His theory does not seem to rely on any physical constraints. Anyway it is interesting. |
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