RE: [asa] Thermodynamics & Eternal Universe - A Question

-----Original Message-----
From: D. F. Siemens, Jr. [mailto:dfsiemensjr@juno.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 11:37 AM
To: Dehler, Bernie
Cc: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] Thermodynamics & Eternal Universe - A Question

On Wed, 1 Oct 2008 11:25:55 -0700 "Dehler, Bernie"
<bernie.dehler@intel.com> writes:
>
> Hi Christine- I'm not a physicist, but wanted to give you an idea of
> something I think about on this topic, I heard from elsewhere. It
> has to do with an infinite regress.
>
> Here's a logical proof that time couldn't have been going on for
> infinity past:
>
> To get to the current moment, you have to pass through the prior
> moment. Since you can't ever find the most prior moment, since it
> is infinite, then it is impossible to arrive at the current moment.
>
> For that reason, we need a starting point for time- when time
> actually started. It appears that most scientists say that at the
> big bang, time was created, as well as space. This solves the
> riddle for the beginning of time. More riddles follow- where did
> the big-bang energy come from, and what set it off "when" it did
> (you can't say "when" because there actually was no time at any
> point before the big bang).
>
> ...Bernie
>
This argument begs the question of a continuum. I cannot argue that,
because the mathematical continuum extends infinitely, so that I can find
neither the first number nor the last, I cannot know that the integer 2
precedes 3.
Dave (ASA)
..................

I think there's a difference when discussing pure numbers compared to numbers with attributes, such as time and space. For example, any pure number could be halved into infinity. But numbers in time and distance can't, because they hit the limits of planck time and planck length. You can't get a smaller length than planck length or smaller time unit than planck time. Correct?

...Bernie

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Received on Wed Oct 1 14:59:31 2008