Misc. > Exercises in Infinity

Axiom: (logic) a proposition that is not susceptible of proof or disproof; its truth is assumed to be self-evident

If one changes the axioms that are assumed to govern life, dispelling the knowledge that we live on a round world with finite life spans, for example, the nature of life changes in ways that can only be explored with the mind. I affectionately term these musings "exercises in infinity."

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The premise of the white room is simple. You put several naked people in a white room and seal the exit so that it is undetectable. They are immortal. They do not need to eat, drink or use the bathroom. In other words, their state remains static for eternity, which is how long you leave them in this white room together. What do they do? How do they interact with one another? What happens to their minds in the first hundred, first thousand, first million years?

Everyone's goal in life is to get to their own "personal floor" of an infinitely tall building. At the beginning of time, everyone is randomly distributed throughout this infinitely tall building and told how many floors away they are from their personal floor. They have no choice but to start climbing. Some go down, some go up. The exceedingly lucky are within a few hundred floors of their own. The unlucky must climb for eternity.

Today you are told by the ultimate authority that you must spend the rest of your life in the company of only one other individual. Who do you pick? What if that person didn't agree to the pairing?

The ultimate authority gets on your case once again, and tells you that you have a 24 hour window in which to pick a certain instance that you will feel like forever. You must go to the bathroom, bathe, sleep, have a good meal (but not eat TOO much), get over any illnesses you have, and make sure you have no aches, pains, or itches. Then, all you have to do is say "now" and that state of being will be preserved for the rest of your life.

If you accidentally have an itch on your scalp at the instant you say "now," you will have that itch for the rest of your life, and no amount of scratching will get rid of it. If you're slightly tired when you say "now," no amount of sleep will ever help you. This is why you have to be in as perfect health as you can be when you say "now." If you're smart and lucky, you'll never have to sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom again. You can enjoy perfect health for the rest of your life. If you delay, and your 24 window expires, your state is automatically recorded at the instant the window expires.

How do you die? Or are you already dead?

Before you start griping about how the population is out of control and still rising, think about the converse. What if the population of the Earth were decreasing steadily with each passing generation, and there was nothing anyone could do about it?

A portal to heaven opens up. Everyone on Earth is guaranteed a spot in heaven, but not until every single person alive passes through the portal. Even one person on the planet refusing to go will keep everyone in limbo. How long does it take before every single person leaves their home, travels around the world, and passes through the portal?

You must get to a certain location. You must. It is absolutely imperative that you get there, but the rate at which you go is unimportant to you. The only thing that is important is that you get there eventually. You would like to get there within a finite amount of time because you are human and impatient, but the catch is that the faster you travel, the greater the probability becomes that you will fail to reach your destination. To repeat, you must get to your destination. How fast are you willing to travel before the risk of failure becomes too great? Moreover, if you choose to play it 100% safe, will you ever actually achieve the success that traveling infinitely slow guarantees?

As funny as it sounds, this one has a practical application. Suppose you have to get downtown by a certain time. As you stand at the bus stop, you see a bus approaching. As it gets closer, you see that it's the one that winds all the way through the suburbs before reaching downtown. What you really want is the express that will take you there in 15 minutes. However, you're not sure when the express is coming. It might be only 5 minutes from the stop, or you could be left waiting another hour. Do you want to get on the "slow" bus, knowing at that least you're making progress toward your destination?

You are inside a hollow sphere, the inside surface of which is a mirror. A pinpoint of light floating in the center of the sphere illuminates the space. What do you see? Can you see?