Krish Ramkumar
2/18/13
Is the universe infinite or finite?
This question has been the age old conundrum in all of
theoretical physics and philosophy. What was there before the big bang? Although
string theorists have come up with a theory that explains the origin of the big
bang, the question “what was there before that” remains unanswered. If the
universe were in fact finite, mankind might be able to arrive at a universal
theory that explains everything through science. But, What if the universe were
infinite? The fact that the universe is never ending seems extremely dissatisfying
and unconvincing to me.
On the contrary, mankind did not create the universe which
implies that the universe need not function according to the laws of physics or
under any other philosophical theory for that matter. We are insignificant
subjects that are merely trying to; in a way decipher GOD’s own cosmic code. Whether
this is really possible or not, I don’t have a clue. But from the aspect of
theoretical physics, we certainly are getting closer to cracking “some” code.
For all we know, the universe might actually be infinite, albeit
unconvincing. To get a feel for this idea, let us look at 2 points x and y separated
by a “finite” distance. We all know from basic logic that there are infinite
number of points between points x and y. The word finite loses its meaning when
we talk about distance between two points. The entire number system by itself
was created by mankind so that we didn’t have to deal with the concept of
infinity. For instance take the famous Achilles and tortoise paradox. Achilles
and tortoise agree to race with tortoise getting a 10 m head start. As the
tortoise reaches the 10 m mark, Achilles also begins to run. Since Achilles is
10 times faster than the tortoise, by the time he reaches the 10 meter mark,
the tortoise has travelled only 1 m ( tortoises’ speed is 1/10th
that of Achilles). When Achilles reaches the 11 m mark the tortoise also has
travelled another one tenth of a meter (11.1m) and so on. As the infinite
series continues, it is impossible for Achilles to catch up with the tortoise.
The most elemental quantity in the universe seems to be
infinity. If there could be an infinite number of points between two arbitrary
points x and y then why can’t the universe at large be infinite.
Achilles eventually winning the race makes this
one of the most interesting paradoxes. Infinity as a concept could be the
fundamental idea behind the universe. 