Infinity :: essays research papers

Infinity There is only one being, continuous, material, and motionless. Let's take a moment to examine a number line. <----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----> 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 It's pretty simple to understand. The line represents a distance, and the "|" characters symbolize different points on the line-the exact points are differentiated by the number below them. Any number line is understood to have contain points which aren't necessarily designated by a number. For example, on the above number line we know that between 5 and 10 we can find the point 7. This example is illustrated below. <----|-|--|----> 5 7 10 In fact, it is understood that there are an infinite number of points on any number line. Between 5 and 7 we can find the points 5.009852, 5.9, 6, 6.262623627000029873257690125762, 6.3336, 6.999, 6.9999, etc. Rulers are examples of how we might commonly use a number line. Different rulers mark off different distances such as yards, feet, inches, centimeters, millimeters, and so on. Obviously rulers cannot be used to measure all distances because some distances may be too small to be measured practically with the naked eye. Hypothetically speaking, let's say you had a worm and a razor blade. Let's also hypothesize that this particular worm is two inches long. Now if you were to cut this worm exactly in half you should have "two worms" each one inch long. If you then took one of those one inch pieces and cut it in half you would then have two pieces each one fourth of an inch long-I don't really know how many times you can cut a worm in half before it stops becoming two worms and just becomes pieces of worm. Theoretically, if you had the right tools, you should be able to continue cutting that worm in half forever. You simply take one of those 1/4 inch pieces, cut it, and then you have a 1/8 inch piece. Then you cut it again, and you have a 1/16..1/34..1/68..1/136..etc. And why not? If you placed this worm (prior to cutting it at all) on a number line and found it covered the distance between 1 and 2 (and we all know there are an infinite number of points on a number line) then you should be able to use the worm as a kind of ruler and be able to locate an infinite number of points on it. Okay, so now we know worms are an infinite number of points long. Skyscrapers are also an infinite number of points long. Therefore, worms are as tall as skyscrapers.