June 21, 2010
Infinity within
Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” I love that observation because while there are rules that conform the world we live in, there are no rules that conform our dreams. We have the ability to imagine entire other universes, spoken in other languages, filled with epic stories all their own, such as Tolkien's “Lord of the Rings” masterpiece, or Frank Herbert's “Dune” series, or perhaps the collected works of Shakespeare ...I recently heard an analogy that was new to me, but has been around for a century: the idea that an infinite amount of monkeys typing on typewriters over an infinite amount of time will ultimately type the collected works of Shakespeare, as unlikely as that event would seem. In this situation 'monkeys typing' represent 'random action,' and “the collected works of Shakespeare” represent 'any specific result.' I think this is an intriguing argument because contained in that statement essentially is an argument for the existence of God.
In an infinite universe where all possibilities are inevitable, everything is inevitable, including a loving creative all-powerful force that willed there to be such an infinite universe in the first place. Within the scope of infinity, its absolutely possible for one human being to know that they have the ability to sacrifice their life and with all-encompassing love save all of humanity, as impossible as that might seem. Or, for someone to realize how trivial a particular lifespan is in the context of infinite lifespans, and thus how trivial are the differences between themselves and others, or how all forms of separation are illusion. Its entirely possible and inevitable that someone would be struck with the wisdom of knowing how infinitely valuable is every opportunity to be compassionate. Likewise there must be infinite opportunities for the pain of love unrequited to be amended (if not in this universe, then in some variation of another). There is not one chosen destiny, not one path, or one opportunity to live or love right. But there are infinite opportunities. Nothing is impossible, and everything is destiny.
Even though the probability of the word 'banana' being typed at random on a 50-key keyboard is less than one in 15 billion, considering the scope of the universe, the scope of infinity, the idea that a monkey typing randomly on a keyboard could ultimately type Shakespeare's Hamlet is something that will ultimately happen. In fact, in the context of infinity, and in infinite universes, time becomes irrelevant and a monkey somewhere must already have typed the collected works of Shakespeare. Essentially, where 'improbable' reaches 'infinity' it becomes 'inevitable.'
So, if the universe is infinite (as it allegedly is according to science's best understanding thus far, i.e. String Theory, M-theory, as well as the Multiverse theory of Cosmology), then every moment itself is infinite (in that it exists in its own universe and in infinite other universes) because the moment before it lead to infinite variations of that moment. I may be just experiencing this particular moment now, as I am writing this (or from your perspective, as you are reading this) and that may be the only moment we collectively are currently aware we are experiencing. But, in an infinite universe (of infinite universes, a.k.a. a Metaverse, or Multiverse), we are always experiencing every moment of our lives, forever. Or, every moment of our lives exists forever, in the sense that time itself is irrelevant in the context of infinite recursive universes. In this particular universe, I just can't control which moment I'm experiencing “now.” The experience of “now” is what gives all the particular context to our lives, and it is contingent on the arrow of time.
How is the universe infinite? We know that the universe is massively, perhaps incomprehensibly, large. Infinity does exist already in obvious ways such as numbers, or in more complicated ideas like String Theory, which essentially defines the most basic components of the universe to be 1-dimensional components termed “strings,” these tiny dimensional objects, that can ranve in size up to the size of the universe exist in 11-dimensional space, and the “vibration” of them is what determines the nature of the basic building blocks of forces (bosons) and matter (femions) which intern are the basic building blocks of everything in the universe. So essentially, with String Theory, the entire universe is made up of the effects of infinite vibrations, or in other words, is one great symphony.
We exist in a universe that is intertwined with infinite other universes; where the infinity of possibilities is as great as the wildest dreams of our imagination, and all that is, has ever been, and will ever be. Perhaps love (human) is the aftermath of a greater love (cosmic), and was intended to be all along. And in the scope of infinity, how could have not have been? Anyways, how could Shakespeare realistically have written so many good works without the help of a little infinite creative potential from above.
