The universe (some information to live in it)

[irvykinneas]

what is this

[EvaPilot1]

It really is terribly complicated.

[finkenthei]

Does anyone have the german version of this? I'd just love to quote that on some german sites....

[jorgepeterbarton]

you can have different sizes of infinity, and infinity divided by a finite number is actually still infinity, so there are less inhabited worlds than total worlds but the number of both of those is still infinite. the equation of infinity/infinity is undefined and depends on what infities in relation to eachother (doesn't equal 1). e.g. a ratio of 1:10 worlds times infinity equals a ratio between two unequal infinities. nonetheless this is intended a mathematical joke like much of the book!

[SirVladDracula]

@jorgepeterbarton I saw something about that. It sounds like bollocks to me.

if Infinity is a characteristic of something lacking an end; how can an endless quantity come in different sizes?

There's also a mathematical law stating that some mathematical facts cannot be proven in practical experimentation. ._.

Sounds like Mathmatitions trying to up their game, tbh. XD

[jorgepeterbarton]

@SirVladDracula well its 'easy' to imagine different sizes of infinities. just imagine an infinite space, and inside that space if you were to take a finite part of it and say there are maybe 1:10000 ratio of inhabited planets and uninhabited planets. their quantities can be endless but if you were to count them there would always be 10000 more of the latter. space would not suddenly change and you come across a set of galaxies that suddenly start being 10000:1 instead just to satisfy our ideas.

[SirVladDracula]

@jorgepeterbarton I suppose that's fair enough;

But upon a slightly less theoretical level, infinity is still essentially a measurement of endlessness; and if something cannot end, then you'd never stop counting. So, regardless of the number difference; you'd still fail to stop counting. So, they're still basically the same size.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept completely; but it's likes 4-dimensional space.

Its fine on paper; but in a physical universe...

[jorgepeterbarton]

@SirVladDracula infinity is not a real number. you can't apply intuition to it.

in an infinite universe. you can't say that there's now the same amount of everything as everything else.

that's established really. i mean yours is just a theory too remember that hasn't been in use since the 19th century (if it ever was, and not just the application to physical realities that needed cardinal values of infinity) and its even less intuitive to me..

[jorgepeterbarton]

and in fact less intuitive... its like its the opposite to what you are saying to all mathematicians, physicists etc.... infinity is just a theory, a made up number.. to apply it to reality it needs something like the theory of cardinals: that you can have different sizes of it..

before this it only applied to things like recurring numbers, theoretical maths or poetry and wasn't really thought about in an infinite universe or anything real.

[jorgepeterbarton]

@jorgepeterbarton forget infinity is even a number... its never really been anyway... its a set of numbers if you like, like real numbers are a set of numbers. since 400bc its been a set of numbers or two of the three sets from the Surya Prajnapti.

divide it by something and infinity is the answer... so.. what does dividing mean in Real terms... something is split into two types... now you have two infinities. the fact we can't count them-its impossible-means YOU can't know if they're equal.

[SirVladDracula]

@jorgepeterbarton That's like saying for something to exist it has to be over-complicated. o.o

Two pieces of infinitely long string, would both end at the same point; which is never. So one can never be any bigger than the next.

Even if the second piece of string was twice as thick, both would be of infinite mass and quantity, so one can never be any bigger than the next.

And besides; the idea of differing sized infinity is also a theory. Because you can never prove infinate mass. Only disprove.

[jorgepeterbarton]

@SirVladDracula well i'm glad you've managed to imagine infinity and do what none of all the mathmaticians and physicists over the past 2500 years... you're saying you've somehow proved them wrong.. you're saying because you don't understand it that the accepted theory is wrong.

[jorgepeterbarton]

@jorgepeterbarton perhaps it is simply wrong to talk about 'size' and a new word must be used for infinites. its more like ratios of a specific finite part of an infinity.

your example give that the length of infinity is the same. but there must be two different types, quantities if you will, perhaps not ultimately after counting them all. but that's impossible to do and irrelevant because its impossible..of infinity in area because we have something differentif we take a finite section of it..

[jorgepeterbarton]

@jorgepeterbarton ubt if i haven't explained it well enough already, you've given at the end an example of two infinities of different sizes... two pieces of string with different diameters... and like the number of planets, just because there are a smaller number of planets of one type than another, they both can be infinite in quantity. an infinitite repetition of a part of space but each repetition completely different from one another as they can be.

[SirVladDracula]

@jorgepeterbarton I'm not saying anything along those lines. =P

Just because I understand something doesn't mean I have to agree with it.

I'm sure you understand the concepts of many religions; yet I doubt you believe in all of them. Same thing.

I can't prove anyone wrong upon anything I can't physically see nor touch, but neither can anyone else.

I'm not religious. I just don't believe everything I hear. If I can see it be proven, then so be it.

Until then; how can you be sure?

[DerPylz]

There are two mistakes in the thoery that there is no population in the universe: 1. If the Universe was infinit, the population in it may also be. 2. The universe, in fact, isn't infinit.

[Joseav16]

So a finity numer divided by an infinity number equals cero, then the population of the universe is non, now we all vanish in a puff of logic

[SuperHoboPirateNinja]

Actually, that's faulty logic.

Even though not all worlds are inhabited, there can still be an infinite number of inhabited worlds. Look at numbers, for example. There is an infinite number, of course. However, not all of them are even. Does this mean that there is a finite amount of even numbers? Of course not, there's an infinite amount of them. Infinity minus any number still equals infinity.

[InexplicableHat]

@SuperHoboPirateNinja

You're not supposed to notice that, it's done for humor's sake!

Besides, the Guide itself is stated to be badly written (the introduction coming off a box of cereal), so it shouldn't come as a surprise.

[Theroha]

this explains a lot. everything is relative so money is just as much a construct of the mind as time. when you get rid of money and time, the only thing left to do is screw each others brains out. not such a bad way to live when you think about it.

[glowball01]

how would the world operate without money? is there any real alternative to money? well, no, not really...so basically we are tied to the tyranny of currency...although when you consider the Golgafrinchans...it's surely the lesser of two evils, and yet they are the middle-men that do serve some purpose, so how best to conduct our affairs is the ultimate problem...

[WOWJBEOWULF]

This is entry college philosophy about the Universe, to tell us what we are trained to believe by culture has more profound values when we look at it from an overview. We also don't have location, because the Universe has no location, then neither do we; our address are simply our imagination, and do the best you can with it, for we live nowhere. Money is based upon imagination, and doesn't exist; unless you believe in it, then it becomes congealed energy, you spend your dreams.

[NielsC68]

@WOWJBEOWULF "Money is based upon imagination". It's actually called fiat money. Try to watch "Money as Debt" by Poul Grignon. :)

[WOWJBEOWULF]

@NielsC68 True, the value of money is actually based upon labor, in that we value our own labor; it is why socialist and communist nations have the worst currency problems, because the people don't value themselves and aren't allowed to make a status distinction based upon labor success--without that individual value, everything goes away, and they can only survive with hard currency such as gold, silver, and barter. We work hard, we spend hard, because we believe it.

[TimthedogLinehan]

@WOWJBEOWULF People aren't lazy then, we are merely trying to protect the value of the currency.

[morggehan]

Never has anyone made so much fun of science and mathemathics before or again.

[BELEIVEIT1]

scary how that makes perfect sense to me O_O

[megaansem]

@BELEIVEIT1 it doesn't only make sense, it's also mathematically correct...so it's true and we are all just Imagination

[BELEIVEIT1]

@megaansem i wouldn't say mathmatically correct, its more of a "so outrageous that it can be mistaken for fact"

[weldonwin]

So, the universe is full on non-existant people, endlessly boinking one another into infinity, because there is nothing else to do in the entire universe? I suppose that explains a lot then

[tdrury]

Which episode is this from? I want to grab a still from it.

[judedAdudE77]

Time and space are not actually constant. Not going into details here, but I can tell you that only the speed of light is constant.

[dud523]

No Douglas Adams is more missable he created this whole story

[danzinnyman]

the space and stime in which the universe feeds off of is an infinite sphere expanding at an alarming rate however we were starting to learn how to control time and space which gives us ftl faster then light travel either way the world is infinite

[Evorante]

Hmm... infinite sphere expanding? How can the infinite expand, its already infinite!

The "expansion" of the universe creates the area, and the flow of energy creates the time...

And we don't know what's beyond the edges of the universe.

[danzinnyman]

infinite expansion means an infinite sphere

[Evorante]

But... and the Big Crunch theory?

[nanderv]

Nope.. The big rip theory is more correct..

[seonidh]

@nanderv would that have a big rip house of ribs at its centre? Just like the big bang burger bar and Milliways the restaurant at the end of the universe har! ;)

[drewid88]

Peter Jones, we miss you.

[6ramses6]

population of the universe=each planet inhabited or not

[mystykit]

Actually, I agree with this, LOL.