Author:
Wade A. Tisthammer
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 02/13/04 11:56am
In reply to:
Duane
's message, "Not absurd - only logical." on 02/12/04 4:35pm
>Wade:
>
>>What day did Shandy write about last year? I think
>>that, if this man existed and had been writing from
>>eternity past, he would be infinitely far behind.
>
>I agree. And, given your preconditions, this is
>neither paradoxical, nor absurd. It is merely a
>logical conclusion for the situation you've defined.
>
>>So we have a dilemma on our hands. Either Shandy
>>finishes his autobiography at some point or he is
>>infinitely far behind. Which one do you choose?
>
>As I said before, he is infinitely far behind. I
>don't see how this is absurd.
Ah, but here’s the rub. If he is infinitely far behind, then the present moment never would have been reached.
Allow me to explain. If he is infinitely far behind, then the day he wrote about last year (let’s call it point B) is infinitely far away from the present (let’s call that point A). But you can’t traverse an infinite through successive addition. To see why, let’s count. Suppose you start with 1 and successively add one every second. 1, 2, 3, 4… and so on. Will you ever reach a point where you can honestly say, “I’m done. I’ve reached infinity”? No, the number will just get progressively larger and larger without limit. Same thing when you’re counting with days. Suppose we define point B as day 1 and the point A as day infinity. Day 1, 2, 3, 4…you can’t reach a point of day “infinity,” because the numbers will just get larger and larger without limit. And since there is a point in the past (point B) infinitely far away from the present, the present would never be reached.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
|
Feedback: 