A Rational Cosmology: The Possibility of Eternal Existence

Essay LXIV

This is Essay LXIV of Mr. Stolyarov's series, "A Rational Cosmology," which seeks to present objective, absolute, rationally grounded views of terms such as universe, matter, volume, space, time, motion, sound, light, forces, fields, and even the higher-order concepts of life, consciousness, and volition. See the index of all the essays in "A Rational Cosmology" here.

Having previously explained the impossibility of simultaneous infinities, we proceed to refute some commonplace errors regarding the idea of infinity. It is frequently said: "If nothing can be infinite, then everything will have to be destroyed someday."

This in no way follows from the assertion that no entity may ever have an infinite quantity of anything.

Let us say that an architect has designed a tower of such durability that no known substance can erode or puncture it. There is absolutely no guarantee that this tower will ever be destroyed. It can be said to be invincible, but it will always have a finite age!

After one thousand years, the tower will be one thousand years old. After one million years, it will be one million years old. No matter how old it becomes, its age can still be measurable, and thus is not infinite.

Thus, it is possible for things to last indefinitely, and there is no inherent guarantee that everything will someday be destroyed. While man's mind cannot envision infinite size or infinite smallness, it can conceive of the possibility of "infinite" longevity of anything: buildings, planets, animals, men, so long as these entities had a certain origin in time.

This phenomenon can be referred to as a chronological infinity, though I use this term with reservation, because it does not truly describe an infinity, for all the measurements concerning it must be in all cases finite. The true infinity, or a simultaneous infinity, concerns either coexistence of infinite and finite measurements or the presence of all infinite measurements within an entity.