∞ = 0, Infinity Equals Zero
It has taken me a bit of time to get to this point. In fact this little sculpture, ∞ = 0, Infinity Equals Zero, is one half of a subject, within an even larger subject, The Property of Infinite Uncertainty, that represents a near lifetime of study and consideration. It’s other half, ∞ = 1, Infinity Equals One, is something that I will describe in its own post, but will touch on it briefly here too.
It would be fair to say that the smallness of Infinity Equals Zero, and Infinity Equals One, both really do contrast in size to the enormity of the subjects that they describe. As would this earlier piece made back in Australia, Growth Rings. It’s very much been made around similar a similar subject albeit, the Property of Infinite Uncertainty.
So then, going back to the reason for of all of this, Infinity Equals Zero, Infinity Equals One and The Property of Infinite Uncertainty, as I have already noted, is the result of a lifetimes curiosity, contemplation and consideration of what this place is that we inhabit? what is this universe and beyond? Unsurprisingly, the answer to that is not something that’s easily knocked out in a couple of paragraphs.
But, there is one thing that can absolutely be knocked out in a single paragraph. And that is the statement that the universe, everything in it, everything outside of it? everything we know about everything we don’t know about everything we can’t know about, either came into existence in some form from an absence of absolutely everything, or, it has always existed as in some form or other.
Now, to be clear, if you’re feeling fairly nauseated at the absurdity or complexity of that last paragraph, I can tell you you’re not alone. And I can also tell you it’s not my intent to address any of those questions about the creation of how we got here or anything else like that. It is my sole intent to describe what infinity is and is not, its real world impact and ultimately the importance of its role in our lives and why we need more of it, not less.
Anyway, and moving rapidly along into this whole infinity equals zero bizzo. Firstly, it’s important that I give you a brief overview of what of all of this is about, this is really important, and I will do that by way of a rather dry definition of what ∞ = 0, infinity equals zero and ∞ = 1, infinity equals one actually are;
∞ = 0; Is a complete absence of everything.
∞ = 1; Is a simple binary statement that something exists.
It’s important to understand, particularly when we get to the property of infinite uncertainty, that the underlying common property of everything, be it energy, particles, space, ideas or imagination or whatever else, is Infinity. It is not a thing that can exist in isolation, and it’s not just a mathematical curiosity. It is a property of “stuff” and has serious real world consequences. If nothing exists then there is no infinity, and if something exists then there is infinity, it’s that simple,……….oh and there are infints, which everything has, but I’ll go over those in another article.
I will start then at the beginning and the idea that ∞ = 0, Infinity Equals Zero.
The complete absence of everything is a “state” that has to have the potential to exist, regardless of how improbable it may seem, and that’s really important. It has to function as the possible improbable opposite to the obviously possible and equally improbable ∞ = 1, Infinity Equals One. Exactly what I mean by that is, infinity equals zero and infinity equals one are equally absurdly improbable, but possible. And we know that one of them’s possible, because you just read this.
They both, infinity equals zero and infinity equals one, have to exist as possibilities as it would be beyond any reason to say, or suggest, that creating something from an absolute absence of everything, ∞ = 0, is more likely, or less absurd, than something existing forever with no beginning and no apparent end, ∞ = 1, or vice versa.
This is also a very important point, from a foundational perspective, as it helps to dismantle any dogmatic approach in our consideration of how our reality functions. It removes any indoctrinated mental boundaries, or limiting and restrictive ideas about what this place we inhabit actually is. Our universe and our existence in it is a reality that’s completely absurd and absolutely off it’s nut crazy. But it is real.
Another reason that I have made this sculpture Infinity Equals Zero, and written all of this, is in response to the idea that “science” considers that it has come up with a process whereby it appears possible to create something from nothing. I know that “The Science” hates the idea of an undefinable universe, hence their sketchy straw clutching “science”. And with that in mind it would be fair to say that I completely disagree with the conclusions that they have drawn. Conclusions that, I may add, are extremely negative and serve only to box in whom it is that we actually are, and limit the potential that we have.
The failing of what they are claiming isn’t really that they’re claiming to create things. The failing is their definition of “nothing” negates the validity of their alleged creating. Aside from the likelihood that there are known, as well yet undiscovered, properties of our universe contributing to their creating, the idea of infinity equals zero is impossible, in this case. It is impossible to have a state of infinity equals zero, absolute nothingness if you like, in an existing universe, regardless of its size and the amount of “stuff” in it. Even the idea of a state of maximum nothingness that they have invented, still does not sufficiently address the problem.
If at this point all you’re seeing is word salad, the following couple of passages are written to help you visualise what ∞ = 0 is. And it’s only reasonable that I tell you that thinking about this can seriously mess with your mind. It most certainly can induce sensations of nausea, so if you need to stop reading and walk away, don’t be shy, you’re not likely to be the only one.
Infinity Equals Zero, The Improbable State.
To get to this point of infinity equals zero that I’m talking about, what I’d like you to do is think about all the things in the universe, real or imagined. I’d like you to picture our universe and possibly a multiverse. I’d like you to think of all of the galaxies, and all the planets, stars and black holes in them. I would like you to think about all the forces in the universe, like gravity. I would like you to imagine all of these things or as much as can in your mind, including all the space it occupies, even God, everything, simultaneously.
Got it?
Right, now what I want you to do is screw it all up. I want you to see it all getting crushed together. I want you to collapse space and time into itself and collecting all of those other things as it collapses. And I want you to crush it all up into the tiniest little thing that you can imagine.
All good?
Now I want you to make that tiny little thing disappear. That tiny little thing with all of those gargantuan galaxies, all those things and concepts and ideas and space, I want you to make it disappear from your mind. Gone.
There is no God, there are no universes, there is no time, there are no forces, there is no space, they are all gone.
Hopefully at this point you have developed a sense of a total and complete absence of everything. That total and absolute absence is so complete that it cannot even be described as nothing, because nothing doesn’t exist. It is an absence so absolute that it can only be expressed by this binary notation ∞ = 0, Infinity Equals Zero.
And there is a solid reason for describing this as infinity equals zero, because there is no creation, there is no “stuff”, therefore there is no infinity and, subsequently, there are no infints.
To understand what infinity is and particularly infints I suggest reading this post here. If you’ve read it already, and you understand it, nice job.
Infinity Equals Zero, Some Real World Visual Assistance
If the passage you’ve just read was a bit too far out there, then maybe the following few paragraphs will help. In an attempt to help you visualise infinity equals zero, I am going to give you a real world analogous example that you can actually go and do yourself.
Imagine you’re sitting staring at a computer screen, the computer is turned off. The blank screen is completely un-energised. In this example, in-silica, this is the state of ∞ = 0, infinity equals zero. There is no space, there is no time, there is no matter or energy. There is no infinity.
Then you turn the screen on, and instantly you see a jet black space with a large rotating red cube. This is real, the space is real, the cube is real, and you can try it yourself, if you like, you can make this reality. This is the state, in-silica, of infinity equals one. And we know this is the case, because we can measure the size of the cube, whereas previously we couldn’t, there was no cube, there was no infinity. We can measure any side, we can time the rotation, we can even measure the redness of the red.
You can spin the cube around or you can spin your view around the cube, you can observe the cube from any point or direction you like. The cube, for all it matters is real. It is there in space and time in the realm of the computer, in-silica. That is ∞ = 1.
Then you turn the screen off.
You’ve just now re-created the “state” of ∞ = 0, infinity equals zero. There is no space, there is no time, there is no cube, there is no infinity. But that’s just in the computer world. In the real world, you hit that off switch and you’re gone, the computer is gone, the universe and everything in it, the physical and non physical, that’s all gone too, and so is infinity.
And for those that know about it, the above passage is not in anyway a description, however brief, of the simulation theory of our existence.
And that’s that.
I am hoping, now that you’re at this point, that you’re starting to see the universe we occupy is not the same as the one people get taught and told about. It’s not about the big bang or any other similar idea, this is much much more fundamental than that. And I hope that you are also starting to see that infinity is not a theoretical thing that exists as a mathematical curiosity. It is real, it absolutely has a real world impact, and consequences. All of these things I will continue to cover and expand upon in my next and following articles.
Infinity Equals Zero, A Brief Technical Note
Also carved from a single piece of pine. I have style the form to be the same, more or less, as an interpretation of the infinite complex nature of it. Unlike it’s other half though, this piece, Infinity Equals Zero, sits independent of everything, as it has been made to only serve the purpose of the sculpture itself, not any reality beyond that.
