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Originally Posted by ManWithAPlan
I would like to see the proof that "math" (quoted for ubiquity) has to offer for the universe having an end.
To me it seems that if you consider the universe it could be the geometric equivalent of a ray. A start point, but no end point.
Infinity doesn't always have to be in the extreme sense. Say you have a machine where you press a button and it gives you a random number. Couldn't it give you an infinite sequence?
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No offense meant, but go ask Steven Hawking or Google's equivalent. I'm not a mathematician and I don't have time to go find equations or research it.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia can probably help you in your quest.
Ironically, I just watched a naked science episode while eating lunch, where they discussed the same topic. In the end a supermassive black hole of everything, and possibly the death of the universe and the beginning of a new one when it popped. Cool.
A start point of a ray implies an end, even if one end. Even in concept, not infinity. There can be no end, in either direction. By that, forwards or backwards in time, or on a linear scale of any other measure.
No the machine couldn't. The machine is limited by it's physical components, and pulling the plug. If that's not enough, the machine must last forever and spit numbers forever and this realm, this universe, will not last forever. Even if the machine could overcome all obstacles of this universe, the laws that govern the universe itself would destroy it.
So could it simply spit out "∞"? Sure. But that is not a number sequence. Also, the number sequence has a beginning. Say it began with 3. It couldn't be infinite, because it has a beginning in time and concept. In the end, it is still constrained by the universe around it.
I assume we are talking about reality here. If not, one could devise infinity in any number of ways. We could be a simple observer, floating outside of space/time with an infinity-spitting machine, tossing numbers outside of time in a circular existence as the universe expanded and collapsed for all of your existence. But then another question comes up. How long did you exist?
Heh.