On Infinities

Earlier I mentioned that the nature of the universe is defined by random numbers, paradoxes and infinities. What I discussed were random numbers, and paradoxes but I left infinities. The mathematics we use to describe the universe has this idea of a limit as it tends to infinity. Infinity is never something that is actually reached. The human brain has about 10¹⁵ connections. The question is whether thought is limited by the number of these connections. Can I only have 10¹⁵ possible thoughts? I know by thinking about it, that after I have counted 10¹⁵ thoughts I can think of the number 10¹⁵ + 1. So somehow an infinity is stored in my brain even though the number of connections is some finite number. It doesn’t matter what finite number it is. It could be 10^{15,000,000,000} and somehow my finite brain can imagine infinitely more than it should be numerically capable of if thoughts were related to physicality. When people argue we have no free will because we are simply some kind of computer, they miss the point completely since they can’t see that the very fact that they think that precludes it from being true.

The intelligence or state we are evolving towards will be able to describe the universe in a language that is far in advance of, and different to, mathematics. Try as we might we won’t be able to know what that language is until we evolve the capability to understand it. We can however conjecture such a language exists and it is based on paradoxes, random numbers, and infinities. A language that is beyond mathematics and is not restricted or defined by it. That is then what is missing from the Drake Equation. L_c the fraction of time when the communications of a civilization can be comprehended by civilizations at lower levels of comprehension. Maybe we “hear” other living creatures all the time but we simply can’t comprehend their language or how it is “spoken”, the same way a snail can not listen to or understand or create a device to receive radio waves.