- #1
Picklehead
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Regarding the current thread on something from nothing, or something eternal and the possibility of a third option. I felt that if I didnt start a specific thread on the third option, that my post would get buried.
There is no third option.
In my opinion, saying that there is a third option is like saying, when it comes to the natural numbers, that there is neither a finite number of them, nor an infinite number of them, but 'something else' in between. Or, conversely, that there is both an infinite number of them, and a finite number of them, and that is 'something else'. Can the possibilities for that 'something else' even be coherently described without calling it something blatently contradictory like 'there is a finite number of natural numbers that never end' or, 'there is an infinite number of natural numbers that eventually comes to an end'?
Or consider two lines (on a plane, a sphere, or a torus, it doesn't matter) . . . either they intersect, or they dont. As far as I know there is no possible exception to that.
Or how about a bit . . . either 1 or 0 . . . on or off. That has little to do with the topic, I know, but I think I made my point that suggesting that there is a third option to the universe being either temporal/finite or eternal/infinite is like suggesting that there is a third digit you will find in base 2 arithmitic if you just keep at it.
Or that matter is neither discrete or continuous (that one is actually pretty fuzzy when you factor in particle/wave duality, so that one isn't quite so damning).
Or that there is a mathematical operation that isn't ultimately an addition or subtraction of quantities . . . but 'something else'.
Or . . . ok, now its just getting silly.
There is no third option.
In my opinion, saying that there is a third option is like saying, when it comes to the natural numbers, that there is neither a finite number of them, nor an infinite number of them, but 'something else' in between. Or, conversely, that there is both an infinite number of them, and a finite number of them, and that is 'something else'. Can the possibilities for that 'something else' even be coherently described without calling it something blatently contradictory like 'there is a finite number of natural numbers that never end' or, 'there is an infinite number of natural numbers that eventually comes to an end'?
Or consider two lines (on a plane, a sphere, or a torus, it doesn't matter) . . . either they intersect, or they dont. As far as I know there is no possible exception to that.
Or how about a bit . . . either 1 or 0 . . . on or off. That has little to do with the topic, I know, but I think I made my point that suggesting that there is a third option to the universe being either temporal/finite or eternal/infinite is like suggesting that there is a third digit you will find in base 2 arithmitic if you just keep at it.
Or that matter is neither discrete or continuous (that one is actually pretty fuzzy when you factor in particle/wave duality, so that one isn't quite so damning).
Or that there is a mathematical operation that isn't ultimately an addition or subtraction of quantities . . . but 'something else'.
Or . . . ok, now its just getting silly.