Up@dawn 2.0

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

WHAT IS INFINITY? (S13;G4)

Hello everybody!

Today our group discussed what it meant to define infinity.  We came to the conclusion that it was relative and impossible to adequately define infinity.  Are time and space infinite?  We came to the conclusion that time is relative.  We don't know the reality of time.  One could say that it is infinite before and after our lives.  Others could say time is finite in that it begins somewhere and ends somewhere.  We discussed where we thought time began and ended.  Again, we saw that this discussion was relative to how people defined history, the universe, and time.  Discussing infinite time before and after death led to the discussion of what happens to our souls when we die? Do we have souls? Do they exist postmortem?  As you can see, our group often time digresses into interesting, thought provoking discussions.  Going back to infinity, we agreed that number are not the only things that demonstrate infinity.  Knowledge is infinite.  We may think we know something accurately, but time and advancement often proves us incorrect.  Can the mind acquire an unlimited amount of knowledge, or are there limits on our thought and intellect?  Are there certain things people simply cannot have answers for?  We also talked about the idea that humans may evolve infinitely.  Change is infinite and never ending.  Do you think the world around us will ever stop changing?  Amanda also brought up an interesting example of a Bill Nye the Science Guy episode she had watched when she was younger.  Bill Nye wanted to see how many times he could cut a piece of cheese.  He discovered that you could continue cutting the cheese into smaller and smaller pieces infinitely.  I brought up a point that stated that eventually there would be no cheese to cut.  However, I am wrong.  It may be difficult to do, but that matter is still there.  Because matter cannot be destroyed, it is therefore infinite.  It was interesting to hear what everyone thought about infinity.  It is a concept that is difficult, and even impossible to fully wrap one's mind around.  We look forward to hearing everybody's thought on infinity.  See everyone on Thursday!

Arielle Roides (Section 13; Group 4)

5 comments:

  1. Natalie Ricketts10:45 PM CDT

    Our discussion on infinity was interesting and it was good to hear everyone’s thoughts. I don’t think we will ever figure out ‘infinity’ but I think that is good and that we shouldn’t be able to. I think that is too big a concept for our minds to grasp and we should leave that one to God. Our next topic is scientific realism which Papineau describes as the view that the world as described by scientific theories really exists and it is more concerned with unobservable things. I thought it was interesting he said that if you look at past scientific theories and they end up all being wrong then you know your theories today are probably wrong, too. This makes sense to me. Sort of a relatable analogy to this I think of is if you’re doing homework and you realize on number ten you’ve misread the directions, you have done them all wrong, not only the first few or the last few. Like Papineau states, “if past theories all turn out to be false then it would be foolish to feel that somehow our present theories must be true.”
    --Papineau states that skepticism arose principally through the failures of science?
    (T or F) True
    --Do you agree with Papineau that if all our past theories are wrong, then our present ones can’t be right?
    --What are maybe some examples of this today?

    --Natalie Ricketts

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  2. Matthew Zumwalt7:56 PM CDT

    Discussion questions

    How does Papineau define scientific realism?

    Are there persuasive arguments against scientific realism?

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  3. Amanda Gargano8:40 PM CDT

    After discussing what infinity was, it really kind of caused me to have a continuous thought process about it. I thought about a circle. One could say that the cirle goes on for infinity without ever stopping. You could keep following the circle with your finger forever and ever and ever. This caused me to think that what if life is just a giant circle. Once someone dies, they are reborn, and the process never stops. Of course, there must be limitations to this such as how big is the cirle.. or how long do you live in each life, and also what happens when the circle eventually disappears from so much wearing and tearing. It is pretty much a theory that is so hard to wrap your head around. The thought of infinity is so unfathomable to the human mind, that no matter how much information about life one gathers, we will never truly be able to comprehend some of lifes questions. When is it comes to scientific realism, papineau describes it as the world of unobservables. In my personal opinion I do not believe that scientists are even relatively close to figuring out what lies beyond the naked eye. I think that scientists claim to have an idea about the world of unobservables because it gives them and others reassurance about knowledge and power. True or false Papineau believed that scepticism arose purely through the failures of science. Do you believe that scientists are on the right track to discovering any true theories?

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  4. chelsea smith11:15 PM CDT

    I enjoyed discussing about "infinity" and it was interesting to hear wt everyone had to say about it. I do believe that everything an everyone has an infinity bt we are not made to think beyond it. our next discussion is about papineau and his opinion on scientific realism. I can't to hear everyone's views about it
    What is papineau's definition on scientific realism?
    What arguements are being discussed againt scientific realism and explain?

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  5. The concept of infinity is indeed mind boggling. It was fun to see everyone's viewpoints on this and the numerous other subjects we digressed to. If space is expanding does that expand time as well; also, what exactly is space expanding in to? How can it expand into nothingness? Where do black holes go? It's so fascinating to me that as we see the light from stars, we are actually seeing into the past in a way. The light reaching us may be from a totally currently nonexistent star. Personally, all these amazing things we have gathered about the universe, only strengthen my faith in God. I will never understand it all, but I can be struck with wonder. And I am.
    Papineau discusses the topic of scientific realism. A point came up that I have often thought myself. If scientists (who considered themselves to be correct) back in the day were wrong about many things, isn't it highly possible and probable that we, too, are wrong? I think so. Although we have indeed far advanced in the world of science, we have far to go.

    Questions:
    Does Papineau consider all branches of science equally reliable? (No. Example: Anthropology vs. Chemistry)
    What do you think another dimension would be like?

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