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Indivisibility

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:24 pm
by valleyoflepers
Excerpt from The Bottom of the Universe

Then she thought evolution and atheism and the law of entropy, if things don’t break down to their smallest points and dissipate, well? It would be impossible to break down indivisibility? It would be impossible to evolve or exist, or not exist, separate from it? We are all connected and those who believe in separation are disenfranchised for some reason or unenlightened? And the different religions that fundamentally embrace peace and eternity, like different shades and warmths’ of light, are all connected? And if something is indivisible, can’t be broken down, how could we have evolved from it? We could only be an image of it or part of it? And how can I be certain that indivisibility is present? Because I understand divisibility? I know with 100 percent certainty what divisibility is? And I know it exists with 100 percent certainty? And being able to grasp what divisibility is, and being certain of it, I fully understand with 100 percent certainty what indivisibility is? Indivisibility exists and it’s seen everyday in life through divisibility? I can’t discount it? I don’t understand how I can be certain how indivisibility exists in God, though? I’ll have to wait till I fully ascend to find out?

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:22 pm
by Interbane
What of infinite divisibility?

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:09 pm
by johnson1010
you mentioned infinte divisibility once, and i had a problem with it, now i can articulate it.

You can only divide an apple a finite number of times before it is no longer an apple. then you are dividing sugar molecules, and then the atoms that compose sugar, then sub-atomic particles and so-on.

i think in this way the idea of infinite divisibility is kind of non-functional.

what do you think?

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:37 pm
by etudiant
When dividing things into their smallest parts, we soon run into trouble. The more we look for smaller particles, we more we find them. We have quite a collection today. It’s as though an obliging and jovial universe has decided that if we really want to go to all that trouble, more and ever smaller and exotic entities will be laid out for us. Does it end at some point?

For another thing, at the sub-atomic level, we are not really sure if we are speaking of a “part”. Objects at this level have dualality, sometimes behaving like particles with mass, and sometimes behaving like energy. Photons of light will, for example, sometimes radiate through space as electromagnetic radiation, and sometimes behave more like particles with mass, bouncing off solid objects, perhaps knocking off a few bits while it’s at it. What sort of knife to use to cut these fellows?

Perhaps we just don’t have the language to describe these phenomena. I could be that the idea of division doesn’t really apply at a basic level. Someone once compared the physical objects in the universe to drops of dew on the grass. They are certainly there for the time being, but formed from an all encompassing background, and will likely return to it.

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:17 pm
by Suzanne
Johnson1010 wrote:
You can only divide an apple a finite number of times before it is no longer an apple. then you are dividing sugar molecules, and then the atoms that compose sugar, then sub-atomic particles and so-on.

i think in this way the idea of infinite divisibility is kind of non-functional.
But, is infinite divisibility possible? Take your apple example. If you cut it until it is no longer an apple, where did the apple go? The apple can not dissapear, it is not invisable. Yes, it will reduce into sugar molecules, and atoms that compose sugar, and on, and on, but, the apple started as something solid. Can an apple be divided into invisibility? I would have to think no, otherwise, the apple would not exsist at all.

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:43 am
by Interbane
It wasn't really a serious question. If you divide an apple enough, you might just turn it into a bomb. Who knows what would happen if you try to split quarks, or the 11 dimensional strings currently hypothesized.

What I was posing was more of a daydreamer's plot for a book, and not much more serious. The pulsing of super symmetric strings reminds me of another rhythmic event in nature; the pulsing of the universe as it cycles through it's "Big Bounce" phases. What if, inside a particle of an apple, there are millions of miniature universes whose flow of time is sped up so they expand and contract millions of times a second, thus making the vibration of the strings. Further, our universe may be just another particle constituent of a pebble on the beach in a higher level universe.

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:20 am
by johnson1010
what i was trying to get to was the notion that at some point you no longer have an apple.

You end up with sugar and other component material.
But, is infinite divisibility possible? Take your apple example. If you cut it until it is no longer an apple, where did the apple go? The apple can not dissapear, it is not invisable. Yes, it will reduce into sugar molecules, and atoms that compose sugar, and on, and on, but, the apple started as something solid. Can an apple be divided into invisibility? I would have to think no, otherwise, the apple would not exsist at all.
Right. I think this indicates that due to physical limits, an APPLE is not infinitely divisible. We don't know yet, maybe the underlying structures are infinitely divisible (i dont think they are, but i have no expertise here) but the apple is not. if you divide it in half, then both halves in half and so on eventually you end up with the chemicals that make the matter of an apple.

I think this is a problem with the idea of infinite divisibility. eventually you run out of apple, or table, or atoms themselves.