Infinity, Alternate Universes, and Hermaphrodites

                Infinity is an interesting concept. A seven year old will tell you that infinity is the biggest number that there is, but that isn’t really correct. Infinity is a lack of boundaries or limits. Since a number needs to have a value, infinity is something else. It is something abstract, like the idea of forever, which can never really be pinned down. Infinity is a lot more useful than forever though. For one, it is a good way to tell when math, especially physics, breaks. Infinity is the solution to dividing by zero, and it often makes an appearance if you try to theorize a massive object travelling at the speed of light. Infinite series and asymptotes are also cool.

                Infinite divisibility is probably my favorite aspect of infinity. Basically, it is the idea that you can continuously divide something up into smaller pieces, forever, without getting pieces of zero size. Then understand that this same process can be done with every piece. It is what the Dewey Decimal System is based on. Now, there are a couple ways to infinitely divide something. You could create and infinite different values that exist between one and two, and when summed, these values would create infinity. You could also divide one by half an infinite number of times, and these values would sum to two. Understanding the difference between these cases is the key to realizing that Zeno’s Paradox is nonsense (also, trying to separate time from space is like trying to remove the direction left, friggin’ crappy paradoxes).

                More mind blowing that any lame Greek paradox is the concept of infinite alternate universes. This is the idea that every single event that has ever occurred could have happened differently, and a universe exists for each of those possibilities. Even more mind blowing, due to the crazy coolness of infinite divisibility, an infinite number of universes exist for each possibility. This means that every universe that you could imagine would exist. Assuming that this idea is true; there is a universe where you wore a green shirt today, a universe where you were born as the opposite gender, one where you and I having sex right now, one where we are having sex and will live forever, and one we are doing it / living forever / being true hermaphrodites capable of self-fertilization who start the new super race of Homo Superior (because if you can impregnate, get pregnant, or get yourself pregnant, you are basically the Ubermensch). Guess what, there is an infinite number of universes where that happens.