A Final Thought on Infinity

I am incapable of conceiving Infinity, and yet I do not accept finity.
Simone de Beauvoir

The topic of limitations arose in class on Monday and thus stemmed a debate over individual limits versus societal or limits imposed on/composed in humans as a whole. One student pointed out potential and drive. Perhaps potential is infinitely and exponentially expanding parallel to our experiences and the drive behind them. Drive must be an individual choice since ultimately, all humans decide at least semi-consciously in order to act or react. I wonder then, if limitations are ever-depleting individually and with the evolution of the human race and its technological advance and the formulation of new ideas, concepts, and theories. Or does the world, or even more vast, the universe possess concrete limits which are far beyond the imagination and/or capability of even the highest powers? And as we advance as a civilization, are we coming closer to reaching those limits and being denied access beyond or breaking the barrier and exceeding them? Namely, can we exceed a prior set "law" of the universe if such restrictions existed because we were not expected to reach them? Just as in mathematics, if the limit never approaches anything, the limit does not exist. If humans approach the limits of the universe, do they expand? And if not, what will happen if we (try to) defy them?

On a more personal note, when I kook at the sky, I just don't see how there can be an end, limit, or restriction to something so vast. How can there be an end to possibilities? Yes, logic, mathematics, "laws" and theories of nature can "prove" infinity wrong but that doesn't stop one being out of billions, one entity out of trillions, from not being able to comprehend the end. We'll never know the true potential of the universe and I think I like it that way. Mystery has its own mysteries and there's some comfort in knowing that although searching for possible explanations and philosophies useful and fulfilling in acquiring knowledge of the universe and oneself, the impossibility of never comprehending anything in its entirety gives me something to live for. A friend of mine once told me that "without doubt there would be no questions and without questions there would be no learning". A quest for more questions is as endless as philosophy. And I like it that way.