The Infinite Book

Last Book Read: The Infinite Book - John D. Barrow

"I could bounded in a nutshell and count myself as a king of infinite space"

-Hamlet


Barrow follows up his Book of Nothing by examining its opposite, infinity. He presents many illustrations of infinity and clearly shows that one infinite set can be a different size from another infinite set. But, the more profound question remains: can there be actual infinities? Barrow examines the categories of mathematical, actual, and absolute infinities and some of the historical thinkers that held views about their existence. Beyond the ultimately obvious mathematical infinites, however, I am not led to the conclusion that there are actual infinities in "real" existence. For instance, if the universe is infinitely large, that means there is another one exactly like you, in fact there are infinite number of "you". Nothing would be unique at all. I think this only complicates reality, and using Occam's razor we must hold off making this a likely conclusion. As we get a sharper picture of the universe, it seems that there is a limited quantity of everything - matter, energy, space and time -at least in one "universe."

One of the most interesting stops on this journey through the infinite, is Barrows examination of Hamlet, which he shows to be an allegory of the paradigm shift from the Earth-center model of the universe to the Sun-centered one. Hamlet was written at the time when Shakespeare's friend, Thomas Digges was contemplating a model for the infinite universe. This is yet another layer of Hamlet, one that I had not conceived of before.

While discussing the likeliness of an infinite or eternal universe, Barrow discusses a thorough sampling of cosmological models. The major question encompassing all of this involves the possibility that the universe is just one part of a multiverse. Here, we are shown the complex geography that might result from an infinite universe, where our universe would be just one of many connected bubble inflations. In this "Kandinsky Universe", each region would have its own physical laws, and the entire set of possible universes would exist in one sheet of space, rather than parallel realities.

Barrow goes on to briefly discuss the possibility of a simulated universe, infinite machines and super-tasks, and immortality, as well as touching on the implied ethics. The Infinite Book shows that infinity becomes a relevant variable when attempting to resolve the major questions of the fabric of existence.