The Absurdity of Infinity

The concept of infinity is very hard a thing to be grasped by human mind. It is especially difficult because over the course of evolution our minds have accustomed to the idea that everything has a beginning and an end, no matter how incredibly long it may last.

To my mind a lot of people are mistaken when they think of infinity. True infinity would imply having an infinite space, in terms of cosmos, which already exists in an infinite form notwithstanding an individual’s perception.

To exclude some of the popular misconceptions, let us take a look at several examples.

Does Truth Exist?

Truth be told, nobody can say at any level of certainty what truth is. That’s because it is so subjective. What is true for person A can be complete nonsense for person B.

This does not mean that there is no truth. Truth exists even thought it may be invisible to as great a number of people as is for instance, 5 billion human beings, 3 million dogs or 1 million cats.

To avoid vagueness of discussion let us consider an example. Let’s take a tree that is in the middle of a park and has green leaves. One might argue endlessly that the tree does not exist but is an illusion; or its color is not exactly what we humans perceive; or that the whole human existence is an illusion, thus rendering the tree an illusion too…

Time-traveling Paradox

There are a lot of interesting paradoxes that arise when dealing with a concept of time travel. So here is one that is not surprising but I find quite interesting.

I am not a big fan of the idea of a multi-verse. Especially in the way that becomes more and more popular as time passes. I am referring to the popular belief, which states that with every decision of an individual a new universe emerges. The idea refers mostly to the important decisions that alter one person’s or a group’s life. But who is the judge in these cases. If we address the butterfly effect it will lead us to the conclusion that every motion that a human or a beast makes, can lead to a new universe being sprung up somewhere in the outer reaches of space. This is merely ridiculous. A motion of the wings of a butterfly is not capable of creating matter in the other side of space.

FF3: Living without Brain

It is an estimate that Jellyfish have been around for over 650 million years. This on its own is quite amazing, but try this for a size: They have no brains, heart or bones. They consist mostly (97%) of water and although they don’t posses eyes, they can still hunt on pray with yet mysterious impulses.

FF2: Carnivorous Plants

Strange is not a word enough to describe plants feeding on insects – it really is fascinating. Apparently there are as much as 630 species of plants that attract and trap prey, produce digestive enzymes, and absorb the resulting available nutrients. Carnivorous plants usually grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients.

Here are some of their truly beautiful pictures and videos that show them in action.

FF1: Is colour an illusion?

Colour is an illusion. Technically colours do not exist but they are merely interpretations of different wavelengths of light by our brains, by means of eyes. It is interpreted in this way by our brains, because over the course of evolution it proved useful do differentiate a potential threat from its surroundings. Consider for example these pictures:

It is definitely easier to see a bear in colours and if we weren’t able to perceive objects the way we do, we would most probably have been an easy game for bears, wolves, lions and others alike.

 

Is Money the Most Important Thing in the World?

Yes it is! Of course it depends how we look at this age-old question. If we see only banknotes in the concept of money then it may be a little bit awkward to positively answer it. But there is more to money then the filth it is mostly associated with. It will come as no surprise if I say that it is means of acquiring goods and services we need daily.

Even in epos you can notice that all protagonists are after treasure. This in a way means that getting your hands on a treasure equals acquiring tremendous power over others. Money is the same treasure that we are all after. Money is power. You can buy anybody who is for sale, you can buy just anything you wish and make your wildest dreams come true. What can compete with that?

One can often hear from sentimentalists that money cannot buy you happiness or health. Well, let me tell you this – if you are sick and you go to the hospital no doctor will treat you just for the sake of your beautiful eyes. You are actually supposed to buy health – you need to pay to be treated. Is it not true? And as far as happiness is concerned that can also be bought. It varies from person to person, whether they find happiness in luxurious mansions, cars or anything else.

One can also argue that money is good for acquiring material things only and spiritual satisfaction and all the abstract joys of life cannot be bought, but this is just one side of the coin. It is true that they cannot be bought, but it is also true that money doesn’t prevent you from having any of the above mentioned. If anything it only helps to do so.

I have always wondered how anti-money people imagine living without it. Just to prove the point, let us allow the possibility of living without money. In that case you would have to provide one kind of service in order to receive the other in return. That is to say, if you can bake bread, but you have no chicken, you will have to exchange your bread for eggs. That is how economy works and money is there to ensure the fair exchange of goods. There is no need to see villain in this inanimate object.

It is also noteworthy to pay attention to what we are comparing money when we say that it is the most important thing in the world. It cannot be more important than your children or family members; it cannot be more important than yourself; it cannot be more important than the world you live in, but it is important to have it, in order to be able to satisfy the needs of the very same world surrounding you.

One thing is true though: Money is the most important thing in the world but it is never enough. The more you have, the more you want. That is the trait of a human nature and I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. It is merely an instinct of self-development.

Silent-sippers vs. Noisy-sippers

I don’t think it is necessary to be of aristocratic origin in order to realize that sipping coffee, tea or any other drink in a noisy manner is awkward and annoying to people around you. When people do that, they look like clumsy animals that are unable to behave themselves in public. Just like this one here:

I would like to call upon my fellow silent-sippers to unite and fight this annoying habit once and for all. Brethren, let us draft a law of some kind and have it passed in parliaments that will clearly state that if one person is sipping a drink in a noisy manner the other person should be allowed to teach them a lesson and do this:

If we want to change the world for good we should start from small things and to my mind this is one of them. It really is not so difficult. It just takes a moment of realization.

Let us start this battle today. Those of you who would like to join the movement please express your will in any available way.

SILENT-SIPPERS OF THE WORLD – UNITE!

Why Time Passes?

There are a bunch of theories as to how time passes and how it is different in various places that all depends on the gravitational pull of an object. In this article we will be exploring as to what exactly causes the shift in time. Why is it that we move from present to future and why there is no turning back.

Physicists agree on one thing that the greater gravitational pull of an object, the slower time passes close to it. For example, we all know at what extent time passes on earth and if we need to illustrate the difference we could compare it to the vicinity of a black hole. Close to a black hole time passes much slower than here on earth. Just to draw a clear line we should also mention that out in the space, for example on the orbit of the earth time passes faster than on the surface of earth. That is because the gravity is weaker there.

There is also a notion that if an object, say a human, travels at near the speed of light, time for him passes slower than for others – like for the humans on earth. This must be enough to draw a conclusion that motion is the major player in this case. If there is motion – time passes. In other words, if an object moves through space, then time passes for this object.

If we assume that the previous notion is correct then there remains one thing to do. That is to figure out how we move through space. There is no place where a material body could remain motionless in the known universe. To make it easier to illustrate let us take a look at five different directions in which we as bodies constantly move.

First – Let us consider a human being moving on earth in any direction. This will be one particular direction in which a body moves.

A Long-forgotten Dream

–          Pass me that paper, will ya? – Said James to his wife.

Anne detected a trace of irritation in her husband’s voice, however she couldn’t really figure out what was causing his unrest since it was an ordinary Sunday afternoon and all James did on such days was to sit in an armchair and relax – trying to forget the worries of his job. She didn’t really bother asking, sensing that he would grow protective and try to deny the mild allegation derived from his wife. She passed the newspaper James was referring to and turned back to grating carrots.

James commenced on browsing through the headlines of Friday’s paper hoping to come across an article he hadn’t yet read.

At this late stage of their marriage they had long given up the urge to have any kind of noise in the house – be it music, television or a meaningless chatter. They had grown accustomed to the idea that it is quite all right to stay alone with their thoughts and sometimes being carried away so far as to forget where they were.

The irritation in James’s voice made Anne become more cautious of her actions. She was wondering if the sound of the carrots being grated was also contributing to her husband’s annoyance and couldn’t quite decide if she were to stop doing it. Another option was to take it to the kitchen but the fear of her intention being detected kept her where she was. Although she tried to make the process more silent – as if it were even possible.

James sighed deeply, thus wordlessly commenting on the allegedly troubling news he had read in the paper. Anne sensed that this could serve as a nice conversation starter and for a moment decided to ask what the sigh was all about. As she opened her mouth, another thought crossed her mind questioning the very intention. She knew that after this short verbal exchange about the news, there would be nothing else to be said and the silence that they had grown accustomed to, would become uncomfortable and even unbearable. James wasn’t looking at her, but she still felt the urge to justify her opening mouth and she also sighed, although it was less audible than that of James’s.

Anne was paying close attention to her fingers as not to peel them along with the carrots and that was when she noticed her fingernails needed to be done. She tried, but couldn’t remember when she did them last time. Although housework was her main concern in the family, she still couldn’t find time to take care of her appearance. This thought made her realize that it wasn’t time she couldn’t find, but the will to do so. There was no purpose in taking care of her appearance as she knew that there was no chance of going out with her husband, neither she expected any unexpected guests and nor she had any friends whom she’d visit. This realization saddened her and as usual her mood caused her remember the long forgotten dream to be a painter. She looked back to the days when the dream seemed so realistic and so easy to make it come true, but now it had only remained a memory of those young and lively times. She knew that being married and raising children was usually causing people give up their dreams, she saw it in movies, she read about it in books, she saw it around her – among the neighbours, but it was still causing her a slight pain in the soul, a pain of unfulfilled goal. In search of answers on the question as to what slowed her down so much, the first thing that came to her mind was family and mainly his husband. Upon realizing this she felt guilty to put blame on her husband and in a poor attempt to make up for the guilty conscience she turned to her husband and out of the clear blue sky, asked a question on which she knew answer all along.

–          James, what is your dream?

James lowered the paper and although he wasn’t using glasses he looked at her from down under, as if he were looking over some invisible glasses. Anne could easily detect the amazement in his husband’s gaze – fixed at her, looking over the glasses he wasn’t wearing.

James being confused by the unexpected question was trying to pinpoint its context, even though the absence of prior conversation made it almost impossible.

–          I want to own a bank, – said James.

–          Well, at least you work in a bank, – commented Anne, implying that there was something she had been thinking about before uttering the question. But unfortunately James couldn’t decipher his wife’s comment and the room once again sank into silence.

James continued reading the paper without raising it to the previous position and Anne having finished grating the carrots was sitting there and staring at the orange pile in front of her. The implication being left unnoticed upset her a little but she didn’t get angry as she was quite used to her husband being inattentive. Left alone to her thoughts she followed the dream in her imagination and from setting up a tripod she jumped to the gallery where her exhibition was held and pictured herself with a drink in her hand talking to a bunch of critics who were praising her art. As if it were not enough a success for such a short period of imagining her future as an artist she went as far as to kill herself off and set up a scene in her mind, probably a hundred years from that time, where an auction was held and her paintings were sold at amazingly high prices. Only the thought and picturesque imagination of such a success was enough for her to get the warm feeling spread all over her lungs.

Having reached the limits of her imagination, she returned to earth and found herself still staring at the pile of grated carrots. An agonizing despair took hold of Anne and she got angry at herself. She was angry for not even trying to paint even though she had a load of free time and probably it was out of this anger that she thought to herself – I am going to start painting from tomorrow.

As this though crossed her mind another feeling of despair stroke her, because she knew in advance that she wouldn’t start painting. She knew it for a fact, because it was not the first time she had decided to do so.

 

20.11.2012