"How is eternity expressed mathematically?"

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
Originally posted by BigDoggProblem (Page 1)
[b]∞ <-------[/b]

All integers = ∞ (countably infinite)
All reals = ∞ (uncountable)
All reals, infinitely > all integers
But there is no infinity in between 'all integers' and 'all reals'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinality_of_the_continuum

Originally posted by twhitehead
All integers = ∞ (countably infinite)
All reals = ∞ (uncountable)
All reals, infinitely > all integers
But there is no infinity in between 'all integers' and 'all reals'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinality_of_the_continuum

twhitehead, how then would you reconcile:

Originally posted by twhitehead
"All integers = ∞ (countably infinite)
All reals = ∞ (uncountable)
All reals, infinitely > all integers
But there is no infinity in between 'all integers' and 'all reals'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinality_of_the_continuum"

... with the "Googolplexian"? http://www.googolplexian.com/
____________

Note: You certainly seem to be gifted in your understanding of both
qualitative and quantitative macro/micro measurements
of the universe. ~GB

The Googleplexian is a finite number.

Originally posted by twhitehead
The Googleplexian is a finite number.

Is there an infinite number?

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
Is there an infinite number?

No.

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
No.

Then what is the significance of the word infinity?

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
Then what is the significance of the word infinity?

Infinity (symbol: ∞ ) is an abstract concept describing something without any bound or larger than any number.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity

Originally posted by twhitehead
Infinity (symbol: ∞ ) is an abstract concept describing something without any bound or larger than any number.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity

Then what is the significance of the word "eternity"?

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
Then what is the significance of the word "eternity"?

It has a wide range of meaning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternity

It could mean:
1. Infinite time.
2. A very long time. (this is relative and could really be only a few minutes).
3. All time.

It depends on context.

Most theists think God exists through out time and that heaven / life after death will be infinite. But justifying such a belief is not easy. Its really just assumed and not based on any evidence.

Getting you to discuss anything takes an eternity.

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
Then what is the significance of the word "eternity"?

Just who should be answering this question? Surely people who make routine use of the term and place it at the centre of their claim for attention. If "eternal life" is a central claim of your faith, and employed by you in a bid to convert me to your faith, then there is some onus on you to define and clarify what that means. After all, when you propose something without evidence I am entitled to refute it without evidence. For the moment I am saying it is an empty category, since there is no way of attaching meaning to it in the physical world.

Any attempt to project any form of material existence into the future will hit a wall of unreason without ever needing to approach infinite time. For example, all stars burn hydrogen and make helium. Since they require that fuel to continue in operation, then when they inevitably run out of fuel, they will all die and the universe will be dead. That black, inert, silent and still universe is a reasonable impression of what eternal life might entail and it is, of course, nonsensical, since it will not support any life whatever. You might prefer to project a succession of universes emerging through a sequence of Big Bangs (for example) but the conditions for any meaningful continuity between this and the next universe in such a series are hard to comprehend; I do not have to try but you do if that is your preferred model for eternity.

Maybe you want to abandon the concept of bodily resurrection - and with it, the associated claims made by Christianity and Islam. Asking atheists to explain eternity is absurd, since atheism makes no claims regarding eternity whatever and has no need to use the term.

The use of the term "eternal" is utterly confused and without clarification should be removed from our discussions entirely.

Originally posted by twhitehead
It has a wide range of meaning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternity

It could mean:
1. Infinite time.
2. A very long time. (this is relative and could really be only a few minutes).
3. All time.

It depends on context.

Most theists think God exists through out time and that heaven / life after death will be infinite. But justifying such a b ...[text shortened]... ust assumed and not based on any evidence.

Getting you to discuss anything takes an eternity.

twhitehead, if "God" doesn't exist,
why in the world have you just referenced Him
as if He was looking down upon the two of us from heaven?

Oh Lord! 😞

Originally posted by finnegan
Just who should be answering this question? Surely people who make routine use of the term and place it at the centre of their claim for attention. If "eternal life" is a central claim of your faith, and employed by you in a bid to convert me to your faith, then there is some onus on you to define and clarify what that means. After all, when you propose som ...[text shortened]... rnal" is utterly confused and without clarification should be removed from our discussions entirely.

@finnegan:

"If we have the possibility of knowing the truth, why would we choose to be deceived? (Isiah Berlin)

When you want to know the truth, you do not care who is right. (Richard Feynman"
_________________

Great quotations regarding "truth"; here's another you may appreciate:

"Everything you add to the truth subtracts from the truth.
When truth is discovered by someone else, it loses something
of its attractiveness." ~Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby to finnegan
[three virtually non-sequitur copy pasted quotes]

A genuine response to finnegan's thoughtful and well written post would be more interesting. 😉

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
Then what is the significance of the word infinity?

In mathematics, "infinity" just means "unbounded." An eternity could therefore be defined an an unbounded interval of time.