Ed
asks:
I
was wondering if the following are correct as far as the 10 assumptions
are concerned?
The
universe is infinitely large and infinitely small. It also has an infinite
number of microcosms. All microcosms are finitely large and are infinitely
small.
[Remember that the Eighth Assumption of Science, infinity, assumes that the universe is infinite, both in the
microcosmic and macrocosmic directions. It doesn’t elaborate on what this infinity
amounts to. But, from the other assumptions, we do have some things to go by. For
instance, the Ninth Assumption of Science, relativism
says that all things have characteristics that make them similar to all other
things as well as characteristics that make them dissimilar to all other things.
That means that no two things are exactly the same size. I assume that nothing
is infinitely large except the universe itself. Your question is intriguing
because it implies that the size of a particular microcosm (like motion) is
dependent on the presence of yet another microcosm. Thus, the sizes of
microcosms are purely relative. There can be nothing “small” unless there is
something “large.” For practical purposes, however, I would not agree that “all
microcosms are…infinitely small.” And, as you imply, one could just as well consider
them infinitely large. Relative to the infinite universe, any one microcosm may
be infinitely small, but in our practical every-day existence, that does not seem
to be the case. There are always microcosms larger and smaller than us. Each of us may be a tiny spec in the
infinite universe, but we are what we are. We have only one chance to make the
most of it.]