Author:
Wade A. Tisthammer
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Date Posted: 05/27/04 2:46pm
In reply to:
Duane
's message, "Your first premise actually proves an infinite past!!!" on 05/25/04 5:42am
>Wade:
>
>Sorry to kick this dead horse. I was idly thinking
>the other day, and remembered this discussion - came
>up with another thought about what it actually proves.
>
>I must apologize in advance, though. I haven't read
>through the huge list of responses, and if someone
>else has brought this up already, then feel free to
>ignore this.
>
>
>O.K. - on to the post.
>
>
>- There is a one-to-one correspondence
>between years passed and days passed.
> - In each year Tristram Shandy records a
>different passed day.
>
>
>
>If you'll allow one assumption about your argument, I
>think that you actually proved, rather than disproved,
>an infinite past.
>
>Here it is:
>
>The premises of this argument are true on any given
>day of Shandy's life.
I should again point out that the revised version does not contain those premises.
>Start with today. Number it zero. Since there is a 1
>to 1 correspondence of days passed to years passed,
>there is at least one year prior to today.
>
>O.K. - since a year has passed, we know there was a
>yesterday, so let's "travel back in time" to
>yesterday. *ZAPP!!!* Since we're now in "yesterday,"
>there must be at least two years that have passed
>prior to "today." (Actually, one year and 364 days to
>be exact). Etc., etc.
>
>Every day we "go back," we automatically add on
>another year. We can never "run out of days," since
>each one that has existed in the past corresponds to a
>whole year that has passed.
>
>So we can "count back" to infinity. The first premise
>of your argument actually proves that there *is* an
>infinite past!
>
>Let me know what you think about this.
Okay. Now it is true that there is no limit to how far we can go back. But that doesn't mean we can “count back” to infinity.
To see why, consider the story of Count Int. Suppose there is an immortal person named Count Int who is attempting to write down all the natural numbers and reach infinity with his trusty pen and never-ending supply of paper, taking him exactly one second to write down each number. He starts with one and successively adds one each second (1, 2, 3, 4…). Will he ever reach a point in time where he can honestly say, “I’m done, I’ve reached infinity”? No, the number will just get progressively larger and larger without limit. He can never reach infinity anymore than he can reach the greatest possible number. There will always be a bigger yet finite number in the next second. Because of the infinite quantity of numbers, the Count will never lay down his pen. Because we’re using numbers, this example can be instantiated to reality whether it be distance (1 meter, 2 meters, 3…) time (1 year, 2 years, 3…) or whatever. An actual infinite cannot be formed by successive addition.
It’s the same when we backtrack from the present to the past. Infinity will never be reached.
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