What is Infinity

I have been told that I don’t understand infinity. That there is a hierarchy of infinities therefore my use of the word is, or must somehow be, incorrect. Yes, there is a hierarchy of infinities as explained in this 8-minute video. You don’t really need to watch that video because the hierarchy of infinities has nothing to do with my argument. I post the link only for those who think it does.

A Hierarchy of Infinities

I used the term as: “There are an infinite number of numbers.”  Those numbers can be either whole or fractional. But that number can never be reached, either by counting or as an actual number of physical entities.

An example, if there were a sphere 200 billion light-years in diameter, filled with neutrons packed as tightly as they are inside a neutron star, their numbers would not approach infinity. Multiply that number by a trillion, and you are still nowhere close to having an infinite number of neutrons. Then multiply that number by a trillion trillion, and you are not closer to infinity than you ever were. There can never exist an infinite number of anything physical, be neutrons, bowling balls, or universes.

Now let’s talk odds. I served two years in the Naval Active Reserves. I got out, got married, got hungry, and joined the Air Force. But this is a story about odds. I served aboard a destroyer. Upon leaving any port someone would circulate an “Anchor Pool”, a kind of lottery. Sailors would bet on the minute of the hour that the anchor would be dropped or the minute the first line would go over if we tied up in port.  Whoever ran the anchor pool would sell 60 chances, one for each minute of the hour. So, if the first line went over at 10:32, whoever had the number 32 would win the pool. Each ticket usually cost $5.00 so whoever won the pool would win $300. It was a small ship so usually, only one anchor pool at a time was ever run.

Returning home from a Mediterranean tour the same sailor won the last three anchor pools in a row. What were the odds? Well, we can use some very simple arithmetic to figure it out. The odds of winning one anchor pool would be one chance in 60. The odds of winning two anchor pools in a row would be one in 60 times 60. Or one chance in 3600. The odds of winning three times in a row would be one chance in 60, times 60, times 60. Or one chance in 216,000. Long odds but it happened on the ship I was on.

Now let me introduce the infinite lottery. There is a lottery with an infinite number of tickets outstanding. You must pick a number from one to infinity. If you win you win a billion bucks. What are your chances of winning? Well, winning is within the circle of possibilities, but just barely. Okay, but what if you had to win two times in a row, what would be the odds? Easy, just multiply by infinity once more. That is one times infinity times infinity. Your chances of winning are still not zero, but I dare say they are pretty damn close. But now you must multiply by infinity many times more.

Okay, let’s deal with the multiverse one more time. This time I will skip the many constants, and all the particles, which all had to be exactly what they are, and just deal with the four forces on nature. There is the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, the electromagnetic force, and gravity. But how many different kinds of forces could there have been. Perhaps not an infinite number but a lot more than four for sure. Okay, what about the strength of each force. The strength of each force could have been anything from almost zero to infinity. But it had to be, in each case, exactly what it was, else no universe as we know it.

I have thrashed this straw over and over. I cannot make it any clearer why the multiverse does not explain the fine-tuning of the universe. To me, that is just so damn obvious it slaps you right in the face. But if anyone thinks my reasoning is faulty, please explain in a comment below.

Note: Actually, there are five forces counting dark energy. Dark energy has the strength of a decimal point followed by 120 zeros then 138. Take away one zero or add one zero and the universe either collapses upon itself or blows itself apart.

Note 2: It has been said by Sabine Hossenfelder and a few others that there is no reason to believe that the particles, constants, and forces of the universe are random at all. I agree 100%! The idea that they are random seems silly to me. However, if they are not random, then the multiverse is no explanation for the fine-tuning at all. If they are fixed then even if trillions of universes exist, they would all have the exact same constants and everything else. It is their argument depends totally on the theory that they are random, else the multiverse argument falls apart.

I am trying to solicit other explanations for the fine-tuned universe. I have shot down “Brute Fact”, and “The Multiverse”. That leaves only one option, some kind of conscious fine tuner. What do you think? If you have another possible explanation, then let’s hear it.

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