9 Conceptions Of Infinity — Part 01

Our first essay on “Conceptions Of Infinity” was published on June 5th.

You can find that essay right here.

Our new essay series contains not three, and not six, but nine unique conceptions of infinity.

Each one of these conceptions serves as a blend of fantasy, postmodernism, mathematics, metaphysics, and googology; among a wide variety of other, equally rich, concepts and notions.

A blend of fantasy, postmodernism, metaphysics, and googology; none of it is meant to be very accurate, more speculative than anything else.

Right before we begin, there is one thing to note: some of this may be inaccurate.

Or, more specifically, some of my mathematical speculation may be accurate, but not quite the whole story..

Given this fact, please enjoy each conception as a speculative work of play, rather than as a definite mathematical or scientific assertion.

Conception 01: A Vast, Infinite Skyscraper

Just imagine a skyscraper.

A gleaming silver tower, scraping across the sky.

Just imagine that.

And, if you can, imagine a clear, blue sky — or, if you want, a dark, starry night — coupled with a sense of vastness.

Your sense of vastness will make the rest of this conception far more palatable.

Right after you imagine this skyscraper, imagine, then, that it is infinite.

You can find, within this skyscraper, an infinite wealth of floors, levels, and depths; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

Just as an example, if you went up and up, for a period of, say, 100 trillion millenia, you would still have an infinite number of floors, levels, and depths — ad infinitum — to traverse, explore, discover, and experience; ad infinitum.

Yet another example is that, if you were to go down and down, for that same period, the end result would be the exact same: you would never, ever, reach any sort of ending or limit.

Give yourself a moment to digest this.

Right after your moment passes, allow yourself to consider another idea.

Every single floor, level, and depth — ad infinitum — that comprises this skyscraper is infinite.

You can find, discover, and experience — ad infinitum — within a single floor, an infinite number of individual sections, spaces, rooms, structures; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

Just as an example, within one floor, there might be — and, within this context, is — an infinite number of infinite libraries that each contain an infinite number of unique books, films, comic books, papers, computers; ad infinitum.

And, then, right alongside these infinite libraries, there are an infinite number of infinite laboratories that contain infinite inventions, test chambers, experiments, experimental spaces, and technologies, as well as an infinitude of other elements and components; ad infinitum.

You can also, on a slightly simpler note, imagine a single floor with infinite structures and zones that, in and of themselves, contain infinite structures and zones; ad infinitum.

A quick example of the above is an infinite shopping mall that sits on one floor.

You can walk through this infinite shopping mall, and its infinite stores and arcades and shops and community spaces and vendors and activities — ad infinitum — for 100 trillion years.

And, in doing so, you will never reach the end, or anything close to an end, for there is no ending.

The best part about the above, though, is that this infinite shopping mall is only one infinite space.

One infinite space that, of course, contains an infinitude of other spaces and rooms and zones; ad infinitum.

Right outside of this infinite space, there are an infinitude of other, equally infinite, spaces, sitting within a vast, infinite structure of spaces.

And, of course, this infinite structure sits alongside an infinite wealth of other structures; and soon and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

You can continue to explore and extrapolate upon the above notions endlessly and infinitely, without coming to any endings or limitations; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

Our concern, though, is not with doing so.

Rather, our concern is with two other ideas.

The first, of these two other ideas, is as follows: an infinite series of floors, depths, and levels — ad infinitum — centered on one particular theme, intention, aesthetic; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

Just as an example, there are an infinite number of floors, within this skyscraper, that serve as infinite libraries.

And, yet, there are an infinite number of floors, within this skyscraper, that serve as infinite shopping malls.

You can extrapolate the above to things like “infinite laboratories” and “infinite infrastructure spaces” and, well, it just keeps going and going; ad infinitum.

Some aspects of this idea may be confusing. But, the essence of it is that there are infinite floors, levels, and depths — ad infinitum — and infinite quantities within this vast, infinite whole can be, and are, divided, in a somewhat paradoxical manner, with unique aesthetics, themes, intentions; ad infinitum.

You can keep going and going, through the infinite floors that contain infinite libraries. But, you will never reach the end of those floors.

And, yet, you can find other floors — infinite sets and series of floors, to be precise — that contain infinite shopping malls and infinite laboratories — ad infinitum — and that abide by the same basic rules of these sets.

Our second idea is that this skyscraper exists within a city.

A vast, and infinite, city that houses an infinite number of infinite skyscrapers not unlike this one.

Every single infinite skyscraper is unique and novel.

Right beyond these infinite skyscrapers, and their infinite contents, you can find an infinite wealth of other buildings and structures; ad infinitum.

Just beyond the bounds of these buildings and structures, you can find infinite neighborhoods, streets, city blocks, parks; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

Right within a single street — just as an example — you can find an infinite number of stores, buildings, houses, and structures; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

You can walk through a single street for trillions upon trillions of millenia and, in doing so, you will never reach an ending or any sort of limit.

And, in the end, the above is simply one element, within an infinite city, out of an infinite wealth of other, equally vast, elements and components; ad infinitum.

Conception 02: A Simple Plex

Our second conception is rooted in the idea of “plexing.”

Or, perhaps, the idea of a “plex.”

Right now, it’s hard to say which wording is most appropriate.

Regardless of that, though, a plex is, in essence, when you write a number and, then, produce another number that exists as the previous number, but with that number of zeros in front of it.

Just as an example, if you write the number “1,” then to plex that number would be to write “10.”

And, then, if you plex the number “10,” you would write “10,000,000,000.”

Right after that, if you chose to plex the number “10,000,000,000,” you would have to write a number so large that we do not have the time or ability to do so.

Our conception goes beyond mere plexing.

Rather, our conception exists as an infinite series of plexing processes, occurring across an infinite number of instances, within an infinite number of fractal engines; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

Just imagine that there are an infinite number of plexing processes occurring right now.

Every single one of these processes begins with a unique number.

One process begins with “10.” Yet another process begins with “10,000,000.”

And so on and so forth; endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

All of these processes are occurring right now.

Every single one of these processes involves taking that first number and, then, plexing it.

And, then, plexing it again and again and again; ad infinitum.

Every single one of these plexes occurs at an infinite speed, within a body of time equivalent to a Planck Time.

Just for clarity’s sake, a Planck time is to one second, what one second is to a period of 316,887,385,068,114,309,645,621,034,629,706,950 years.

And, with the above in mind, our initial statement is not entirely accurate: every plex actually occurs within a period of time that is one Planck Time, divided into the equivalent of one second within the yearly figure outlined above, followed by another division that it the equivalent of one second of that new subjective body of time; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

Our process of division keeps going, endlessly and infinitely, never coming to a true end.

Given the fact outlined above, it is not unfair to state that an infinite number of plexes occur at an infinite speed within every single infinitely small, yet infinitely vast, moment.

Outside of that fact, there is also the fact that, as clarified earlier, each one of these infinite plexes exists within a single instance.

And, this single instance is multiplied infinitely and endlessly, allowing for an infinite number of infinite plexes to be occurring across infinite bodies of movement.

Just beyond that, there is the infinite multiplication of the fractal engines that contain, and generate, these infinite instances, allowing for even greater infinities and infinite sets to arise.

You can keep going and going and, in doing so, you will never reach the end; ad infinitum.

Even though there are an infinitude of infinities within this conception, let’s say that, somehow, you run these infinite plexes for a period of 100 trillion millenia.

And, then, after that period of time passes, you “stop” the process.

Just imagine this occurring.

No, it may not make a lot of sense. But, just imagine this occurring.

Right after this process stops, every single number that has arisen, from each plex, is combined together and, then, turned into a single number.

Even though an infinite number of plexes have occured at infinite speeds within an infinite number of infinite moments, the final number — there is no such thing, of course — would, in the end, still be a finite number.

You cannot conceive of this number. And, you certainly can’t write it.

But, in the end, this number would not be infinite: it would be finite.

And, the reason for this is quite simple: we are working with, and bound to, numbers and quantities and, in the end, infinity is not a number or a quantity; it is a concept.

Conception 03: Infinite Bodies Of Time; Infinite Bodies Of Space

Our third conception is not unlike our second conception.

But, there is one notable difference.

You see, we aren’t just plexing numbers; we are plexing bodies of time and space.

Every single aspect of this conception is identical to the second conception.

Or, at least, the majority of them are.

And, yet, instead of plexing the number “10,” and obtaining the number “10,000,000,000,” we plex the number “10,” as if it were a quantity of years, which leads to 10,000,000,000 bodies of time that each contain 10 years.

Or, even, 10,000,000,000 bodies of time that each contain 10,000,000,000 years.

Right after you conduct the above process, you can plex it again, creating a vast, vast wealth of bodies that each contain a new, far greater, wealth of years.

Or, for that matter, millenia or centuries or some other, new, body of time; ad infinitum.

The possibilities are infinite.

Outside of the above, each one of these plexes can, and does, create infinite bodies of space.

You might begin with the number “10,” which references “lightyears.”

Just for clarity’s sake, a single lightyear is around 9.46 trillion kilometers or, alternatively, 5.88 trillion miles.

And, then, in plexing that number, you would obtain 10,000,000,000 bodies of space, each one of which contains 10,000,000,000 light years.

You can plex the above once again and, in doing so, you would obtain an unimaginably vast number of bodies, each of which contains an unimaginably vast quantity of light years.

Or, perhaps, some other vast body of space; once again, the possibilities are infinite.

Just like our second conception, this conception runs infinitely and endlessly, across a neverending wealth of instances, at a speed that is truly infinite.

And, yet, no matter when you chose to stop it — or, for that matter, if you never did — the results will always be the same: finite quantities of time and space.

Our conception exists within the infinite and, yet, it is bound to numbers and quantities; it can never transcend these mediums, nor can it ever ascend into the realm of pure concepts and, in turn, the production of infinities.

Conclusion

If you just finished reading this essay — and, even if you didn’t — thank you so much!

And, if you want to reach me, you can do so by emailing me at “maxwellcakin@gmail.com.”

Best wishes and please have a lovely, lovely day!