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Posted by Albert Einstein once said that the universe and human stupidity are infinite, although he wasn’t sure about the former. In this article, I will attempt to provide evidence that Einstein was wrong about the universe.
Let’s imagine that the universe is truly infinite. At any point within it, one could say that a trillion trillion light years away, there exists a planet called Earth 2, with a person named Peter Boško2. And if it doesn’t exist a trillion trillion years away, then maybe it exists a trillion trillion trillion years farther out. If the universe were infinite, our possibilities for continuing the search for Boško 2 would also be infinite—and therefore destined for success. For infinite success. However, Peter Boško 2 would be so technologically advanced that he’d be able to send me €500 directly into my hand from that distance the moment I stretch it out. Do you see the absurdity we’re reaching? The Peter Boško 2 I described doesn’t exist—because no €500 note just landed in my hand.
To be precise, this “proof” implicitly relies on two assumptions:
- I consider an “infinite universe” to be one in which the distribution of matter—like what we observe in our visible part of the universe—repeats endlessly. This distribution must be more or less random and must allow for galaxies and star systems as we know them. However, if, for example, the universe resembles our observed part only up to a certain, albeit vast, distance—and beyond that there’s just empty space—then I consider such a universe to be finite.
- The assumption that, with sufficient technological development, it is somehow physically possible to perform a material intervention over vast distances—such as teleporting a banknote from any distance to me. If a Peter Boško 2 exists 10^100 light years away but cannot send me the money due to technological limitations, that doesn’t affect my proof. I simply continue searching for another one who does have the necessary technology. All I require for my proof to be valid is that it is physically possible—by some ultra-advanced technology—to send the banknote over any distance.
The universe cannot be infinite, because the concept of infinity within a finite system leads to demonstrable absurdities—for example, the sending of a banknote that demonstrably isn’t happening. Of course, sending a banknote is just one obviously nonsensical example meant to illustrate the absurd consequences of an infinite universe. In reality, what would be expected to happen would be far broader. In essence, everything that can be imagined—or even not imagined—should occur, not just to me, but throughout the universe. If the universe were infinite, then everything that can happen must happen somewhere. And that’s already the definition of non-being. And that, truly, is what’s infinite.
The only aspect of existence that in a certain way bears the attribute of infinity is the fact that I am aware of myself. Or, if you prefer, that conscious beings are aware of themselves. But I only know that indirectly about others—about myself, I know it with 100% certainty, because it’s happening directly within me.
But perhaps more on that another time.
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