| The
Infinite Dilemma
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Some years ago I was
walking along Chancery Place with a good friend, on our way home from
the Wheatsheaf. It was a clear frosty night and there were many stars to
be seen. As we looked up we mused that somewhere out there, there could
be two similarly intoxicated people wandering back home from the
Wheatsheaf. Yes from the Wheatsheaf. Not our Wheatsheaf, but a
Wheatsheaf on another planet somewhere in the Cosmos. The argument goes
thus:- The universe is infinite and therefore, if you venture far enough
into the universe you must eventually come across some form of
life, and if you go still further, life that is identical to ours will
exist. At the time of this profound thought, we were quite happy with the concept and having bid each other goodnight, we each went home contented to our respective beds. On reflection since, however, I have often wondered about this thought and it is now clear to me that it could be flawed. If we accept that there could be another us out there, then because the universe is infinite, there must be more that just one other us, there must be a great many. |
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| In fact, there must be an infinite number of
Wheatsheafs out there! This can’t be right, or can it? Let’s look at it from a slightly different angle. If there is an infinite number of possible configurations in which the constituent parts of the universe may be mixed together, then there are an infinite number of possible outcomes. This being the case the unique combination that goes to make up us may never be repeated. We are alone! Hang on though, there are, as far as we know, only a finite number of elements in the universe, about 100. If this is so, the way in which they could be combined is not infinite, it’s a big number, but not infinite. Therefore, the combination that goes to make up us will be repeated ad infinitum. I’m beginning to loose my thread here (it’s the dribbling you know), but out of the above the following conclusion may be drawn. Either we are unique or there are an infinite number of us; there is no in-between. One final thought, if cartwheels have evolved somewhere else in the Cosmos, do they have fourteen spokes!? Phil Stephens
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