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Thinking About Infinity

Thinking about infinity may be one of the differences between humans and higher-intellect extraterrestrials.

By Jean-Pierre FenyoPublished 8 years ago 18 min read
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The following article was originally published on The Free Advice Man's website here.

In 1982, in my eighteenth year, I found myself walking into this bookstore, "East West Books," on 5th Avenue, a couple blocks west of Union Square in Manhattan (New York City). I had walked past the store several times since arriving in 1980. I will get back to what happened in that bookstore soon enough, but I think this is a good time to help set the scene of what my life was like at the time, and how my social metropological surroundings affected the direction of my thoughts at the time.

Of anywhere in The World, New York City in the 1980s was the place to be. Seriously. It was fertile intellectual ground for a whole breed of New Thinkers, Creative Minds; The New Avant-Garde! The Big Apple was rediscovering its ability to produce the most remarkable people, artistic and cultural experiences on Earth. Mayor Ed Koch (1924-2013) had been in charge since 1978 and it was during his time as the City's Historic three-term Mayor that the city managed to creep out of the depressing condition that it had suffered during the years of the Vietnam War and its immediate aftermath (an epidemic of substance-abuse and related hardcore violent crime, etc.). That said, it was not actually thanks to Mayor Koch, but rather thanks to the odd mix of unusual people seeking a most diverse multi-cultural experience and who had to struggle with the beginnings of what would eventually become the yuppification and gentrification of New York City. Yet hope and optimism was in the air, and like the sweet fragrance of freshly cut grass and powerfully naturally scented roses, the stench of a decade of depressive decay was being whiffed away, heralding a New Wave of Explorative Nonconformists.

The 80s

Photo via Medium

The very number... 80, 80s, 80-something... was itself promising! No doubt the number 8 subconsciously impacted anyone and everyone who was a real pioneer in the new, emerging genres of Art, Music, Literature, Politics, etc. For, as you probably know, 8 is Infinitistic, Well-Rounded (Leminiscate) , and Quite Futuristic!

Keep in mind that the year 2000 was finally within sight, and the 1980s had that unique End of Century-and-Millennium feel about it. And though The Cold War was getting scary again; with then-President Ronald Reagan constantly yapping about "The Evil Soviet Empire" (even joking about bombing Russia!), backed by "the Iron Lady," British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (whose Right-wing anti-Socialist extremism was equally frightening), with Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev coming on the scene just in the nick of time in 1985 (These music videos:

  1. Genesis, "Land of Confusion"
  2. Fun Boy Three, "The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum"
  3. Peter Gabriel, "Games Without Frontiers"

give you a feel for the mood), the 1980s also saw the arrival of the beginning of The Age of Personal Computers for virtually anyone, Alternative Public Access Cable Television, as well as HBO, MTV, CNN etc., movies on VHS (Blockbuster LLC), and COSMOS: A Personal Voyage (hosted by Carl Sagan*). Digitalisation was changing everything!

Here is the late Professor Sagan (whom I met briefly) talking about ETs:

Side-Note: here is my comment to this video: Having met the late Prof. Sagan very briefly and not at all discussing ETs with him, but merely thanking him for his work on the Viking Mars missions, I find his views tend to be cautious on account of the fact that he would not have wanted people to lump him in with those who lack Scientific Discipline, Seriousness, and Sufficient Relevant Scientific Knowledge. That was to be expected. I've read his books, Broca's Brain, CONTACT, the book form of COSMOS, etc. and some of his peer-reviewed dissertations and papers. All this stated: I do think Carl missed a most important introspection: the potential Philosophical and Psychological impact of being constantly Infinity-Conscious/Aware. My specialty, as you may know, is Exopsychology and specifically the Ethics of all things concerned with Advanced ETCs. And in that vein, to my way of thinking, there is no concept, no thought, as important as that of INFINITY. My book, The Most Important Thought, provides some basic insight and elucidates my general thesis. I hope you will look for a link to a free Pdf file of it through Facebook. I am also the creator of Infinity Day and Asimovian Robotonomics.

Infinity and the Mind

Image via ericbellefeuille

It was at this time that now-legendary NYC Artists, Poets, Musicians, Writers, Creative Thinkers, etc., such as Andy Warhol**, Jean-Michel Basquiat**, Keith Haring*, Kenny Scharf*, David Salle, Ira Cohen*, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.**, Allen Ginsberg**, Michael Jackson**, Quentin Crisp*, Joe Franklin*, Isaac Asimov**, Woody Allen**, Andy Kaufman**, Sarah Silverman**, Robin Williams**, Weird Al Yankovic**, Sandra Bernhard**, Carl Sagan**, just to name a few, made their mark in the World or were able to re-establish themselves, mostly fellow residents of The City That Never Sleeps. Being a Village Poet, Occasional Stand-Up Comic, Freelance Writer, and eventually becoming famous in 1987, as The Original New York City Free Advice Man (Street-Corner Philosopher/Poet/Artist written-up in The New Yorker magazine's Talk of The Town section, by Alec Wilkinson, in August of 1987), I hanged out with some of the most remarkable NYC celebrity personalities, and was within their Inner Circle of friends, and met most of them, and was friends (*) or friendly acquaintances (**) with some. And it was during the 80s that I also would find some spare time to attend lectures at various NYC Universities, including ones by famous movie directors at SVA.

My life was totally atypical, most unusual and sometimes too exciting; as it had been even before New York City offered me a place to better define and refine myself. Like Andy Kaufman I, too, wasn't interested in being boxed and labelled by others, society, the media. For Andy was not a comic, nor a singer. He was not exactly pin-able. He was a person who had many talents. Period. The same could and still should be said about me.

So; I walked into East-West Bookstore and was looking for the second volume of Shike by Robert Shea, as I was very much into things about Japanese Cultural History (I think my love for Sushi and Simplicity was the main reason), when I noticed a book with a star-scaped cover! As I was already an avid reader of Science Fiction and OMNI magazine I was into anything to do with Science, Sci-Fi, Futurism (I actually worked for a brief time at Futurific Magazine in 1988). As I generally do; I would like to point out that I am very fortunate to have met both Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury in person (with Asimov I managed to have a one-on-one roughly 45 minutes long personal conversation), and a number of other Sci-Fi writers. I am myself a writer of Sci-Fi, but I lament to admit that I am such a perfectionist that only a few very short pieces of my work have ever been published! That may yet change in the coming years. Good writing is not only Time-Consuming, but Costly and without sufficient Incentive is hard to commit one's self to! As Jaron Lanier has pointed out in his book Who Owns The Future ( a book I seriously recommend ) : Social Media and the Internet have inadvertently harmed Creative Creators of Creative Works of Imagination, i.e. Writers of Authentic, Original and Worthy literary works, on account of not paying us for our ideas!

Anyway; there it was!

"Infinity and The Mind" by Rudy Rucker.

I took a brief look at it, examining a few pages from the first, middle and last section of the book, and bought it.

While it was very informative, explaining the History of the Mathematical ideas related to Infinity, and useful in provoking new thoughts; it missed discussing the deeper philosophical and socio-psychological implications of Thinking About Infinity! Somehow Professor Rudy Rucker was not aware of what I had discovered on my own, and which is the basis of my Hypothesis; that Infinity is thee ONLY ultimate concept for mass socio-psychological change away from narrow-minded, short-term-oriented, shallow thinking, i.e. away from ignorance, towards wisdom!

Thinking about Infinity

Image via walsus

Unlike most people, I first began to think about Infinity when I was six. Most people tend to think about Infinity when they are in their early teens, if ever. What got me to first imagine the notion was what happened one day when my mother took me to the circus. For all I can remember it might actually have the Ringling Brothers Circus. Just before The Greatest Show On Earth began the lights went out and the only light I could see in the dark was the small hole at the top of the Big Tent, through which the sky's bright light appeared as if it were a big star. Of course, I had already seen stars many times, but had no real idea what they really were; other than being told that our Sun was also a star. Mind you, this was 1970 and less than a year before I had seen the actual first Human Moon Landing on TV, along with around 600 Million people alive then (at the time there were around 3.6 Billion people alive).

Anyway, it was then, as I stared up at that aperture, that it occurred to me! I asked my mother what was beyond the stars, and her reply was: "more stars," and she added that that was an odd question to ask by saying "what a strange question!" So then, I asked her what was beyond "all the more stars." This annoyed her, and all she said was; "more stars." It was then that I knew without a doubt that there could not be an end to everything! And that IT ALL would go on forever and forever!

Thinking about Infinity became one of my various main mindsplorations (mental pastimes or hobbies). It occurred to me that if the Universe is Infinite then it could not have been created all at once out of nothing else at all by anyone and thus that it has always existed. Of course, this shocked me. I began to formulate my own understanding of Infinity; which did not at all omit the possibility of an Eternal BEING-ness from which our Eternal Being-nesses emanate, and an Infinite Number of Eternal identical BEING-nesses that have always EXISTED and will continue to always EXIST, and yet which sometimes COMBINE with ONE-ANOTHER, but have never COMBINED ALL AT ONCE ALTOGETHER! In effect, my idea of G8D is not that of an Almighty Physical Creator of ALL-ness, but rather an Eternal Spiritual Entity that is Indestructible and of which We Are All part of. This put me then, as now, in a separate category somewhere between and above that of being either Dogmatic Religious and Atheist Materialist. In effect, I would describe myself as Being Spiritual and Scientific, Deistic but not Dogmatic, and certainly not at all Nihilistic. Of course; to our Human Minds the notion of ETERNAL BEING-nesses that have always existed seems quite illogical and irrational. Our Human Minds Evolved to perceive THINGS as being like Rivers, Birthplaces and Start-Points, having Sources, Origins, Beginnings, and hence also Mouths, Finalities, Ends. A dog has a head and a tail. A tree has its roots and its top. A story has its beginning and end.

Space Exploration and Infinity

Image via frohan55

There are those who too soon are turned off from independent thinking and contemplating ideas that fail to provide simple answers that can comfort us. They are the ones who rush back into the proverbial Cave of Darkness, and they are the ones who fear those who do not! And then are those of us who are the very opposite; we who dare to IMAGINE things that are unlike things we have ever heard about from anyone else!

As a species we have barely begun to travel beyond the limits of our planet's biosphere. Twelve of us have actually walked on The Moon, and 24 of us, including those 12, have ever been at a distance just beyond that of our Moon's surface. If we do not destroy ourselves or regress backwards; then within 10 to 20 years it is very likely two or more of us will have walked on the surface of Mars. Only a minute fraction of us have ever been in Near-Earth Outer Space; mostly in Low Earth Orbit. We cannot call ourselves a Spacefaring Civilization. Yet. But in all probability, if we do not destroy ourselves first, within 100 years it is very possible that most of us alive then (almost none of us alive today) will have gone outside of Earth's atmosphere into Space; even if simply to travel faster from one place on Earth to another. Escaping Earth's gravity will no longer require being healthy enough to withstand tremendous Physical G Forces, nor suffering the various unpleasantries of extensive time in micro-gravity. Artificial Gravity will be standard on almost all space-craft. Space-Travel will truly become as comfortable and as easy as flying aboard a passenger jet. And when we do become a Spacefaring Civilization then we will become Infinity Conscious for sure! Our whole Worldview and Existential Awareness will be one based on True Infinity-Consciousness. We will think as THEY do! Which may actually be when THEY finally decide that we are ready for FULL CONTACT!

We now know that there are planets in our relative vicinity that are not only somewhat similar to ours, but also that some of those are far older than our planet! We know that there might very well already exist an Advanced Civilization Species that came into Technological Sophistication and Socio-Psychological Maturity perhaps over 1 Billion years before ours! The implications are almost impossible to imagine! As the late, great, Science-Fiction author Arthur C. Clarke said: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." (the 3rd Law in Arthur C. Clarke Three Laws). One thing is almost certain, and this is something I have stated many times before; THEY are likely to be so advanced that THEY can produce anything Physical they need by using their Super-Advanced Technologies and their ability to tap into Relatively Vast Unlimited Energy sources to manipulate Basic Physical Substances and manufacture ultra-complex items! They will be able to use existing or "manufactured" minerals, metals, composites, etc. far more efficiently, and produce any necessary amounts of these with relative ease (hence they will not be competing with relatively Primitive Species like us). Thus THEY will not be some some kind of Star Wars-like War-faring Species seeking to exponentially multiply their number (population), and THEY will certainly not be interested in invading, colonizing, enslaving, or murdering other species of relatively intelligent Life-forms for material gain or "territory."

ET Phobia

Image via frohan55

There are a few memorable exceptions to ET-phobia, such as these ones:

  1. Close Encounters of The Third Kind
  2. Enemy Mine
  3. E.T.
  4. Paul The Alien
Even so; I am convinced that the REAL Real ALIENS are very Individualistic and have a very Advanced Sense and Application of Ethics.

Why?

Because THEY are Wise!

And WHY are THEY Wise?

Because THEY Live In A State of Constant Infinity Awareness!

But what exactly does Constant Infinity Awareness mean?

First of all; EVERYTHING matters, whether or not You actually concluded and continue to THINK that the Universe is INFINITE and not FINITE. Why? Because the way you conceive and preconceive Anything and Everything in The World and Universe surrounding You is influenced by Your Own Mental Frame of Reference and Prior Preconceptions!

A famous painting, like The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, would not be perceived the same way IF instead of being framed it was just part of some larger work. In the company of many other faces it would almost certainly not be perceived as especially special. In any case, an Infinite Frame of Reference means that You are Free to Wonder and Imagine what might be beyond what you can at present, immediately see. Someone who is convinced that Life is only about a Few Limited Events, Realities, Things, and Possibilities, rather than a Potentially Infinite number, is likely to conclude that those who Wonder about things and have "Wild" Imaginations are abnormal, deranged, mentally ill and thus potentially dangerous!

We all know that most people Fear Those Who They Are Convinced Are Mentally Unfit or Those Things and Ideas or Groups of People that they do not yet understand. Fear of The UNKNOWN and of The DIFFERENT re-enforce Insecurities about Otherness and of course such Fear-immersed Persons will seek to get away from those they fear, if possible, and/or seek to destroy those or that which they fear! Real ETs that have Super-Advanced Technologies do not have such Insecurities about Otherness and the Unknown. They simply seek to steer clear of Ignoramuses. And let's be real: most of Us Humans today are not Homo-Sapiens, but, rather, Homo-Ignoramuses.

Most people tend to think of Infinity as an abstract numerical value and/or "something" that has no end, but they fail to think of it as being Eternal without beginning in Time-Space/Space-Time! Space-Time is Infinite. Of course; Big Bang Theorists tend to think that Space-Time began as a Singularity, a Point Before Space-Time, and then BANG!... it expanded until IT reached a certain limit in Space-Time! But that is just a Theory for which there is no conclusive evidence. As a Philosopher I am also a Theorist and I subscribe to the alternative view of Plasma Cosmology, Tired Light, and Constantinuity.

In any case, what is really most psychologically mind-expanding and also shocking about Infinity is the idea that everything that we can ever experience and know has already been experienced and known, is always being experienced and known somewhere Infinitely OUT THERE, and will always be experienced and known for all time to come FOREVER, ETERNALLY! Which might initially cause one to conclude that none of us are special, important, or matter at all, and all Reality is just some kind of senseless and brutal Cosmic Joke that probably none but the Insane would find funny! However, this conclusion is actually FALSE! And here's why: At no point anywhere throughout Infinite Space-Time-Change is any Single Conscious Being/Entity surrounded by the exact same Infinite Shells-Layer of Circumstantial Super-Reality! Everyone has their own Unique Infinity at all times, and Everyone is Infinitely Unique! BUT that could also easily cause anyone to falsely conclude that each and every person, every Sentient Being, is Eternally Alone! That too is actually False! Because Individual SELVES or BEINGS are actually able to Fully Converge and Combine through TOTAL COMMUNION! So then, one may then ask: Does that not then mean that Our Individuality, Our Sense of SELF-ness, is actually Temporal and ultimately just an illusion? The answer is not at all ONE or THE OTHER! The Psychological Notion of Individuality and SELF-ness is based on how Our Brains Perceive Mind! Mind is NOT WHO We Are! It is WHAT We THINK! So then: WHAT REALLY ARE WE? And do We really have Souls? Or are We Self-Deceiving Temporal Freaks of Senseless Chaotic-ness?

SUPER-ADVANCED, Sociologically/Psychologically Evolved, and Matured ALIENS know what I know; that Each One Of Us IS AN ETERNAL SOUL that can become ONE-nified (Unified Into An Amalgamated ONE-ness) with any number of OTHER ETERNAL SOULS; but not for an Eternity, but rather for an Indeterminate amount of SPIRITUAL-TIME! (Note: Spiritual-Time is different from the Bio-Electro-Chemical Perception of Physical Space-Time.) Imagine it this way: Let us represent each Individual Soul as a Molecule of H2O... except that Souls are not Physical Molecules and are not Temporal, and can never be broken down into separate atoms and sub-atomic particles, but rather THEY (Souls) are Eternal UNITS that when directly connected to other Souls become AS IF ONE! Better yet, not just AS IF ONE, but ACTUALLY ONE, and yet can once more become Separated into Singular ONE-ness! Sort of like when you connect two or more Molecules of H2O and then divide them into two separated Molecules again! Such a seemingly Irrational Notion is hard to conceive, but it is the Only Logical Notion! I would venture to say that when two person or more seek to "FEEL-BE ONE" then their Souls Communionate Into ONE, albeit Temporarily! And IMAGINE that every single living cell in your body has its OWN INDIVIDUAL Communiable SOUL!!!

How Advanced Aliens Think

Image via Round Table Podcast

But the Human Mind still finds this all very perplexing and seemingly senseless and illogical! It asks: "But where did it all come from?" and "What gave rise to our Souls?" The Conceptual Notion of Eternal Souls sort of randomly "moving," "floating" in Space-Time and yet never able to Traverse INFINITY is extremely disturbing and seems totally beyond comprehension. BUT that is exactly WHY in order to maintain one's Sanity WHILE Living ONE must simply accept Infinity and Eternal Existence; Without trying to Self-Explain it in terms of the Kind of Abstract Reasoning and Logic WE Need in This LIFE in order to Survive, Live and Focus on Those Corporal and Non-Physical Experiences that make Us FEEL-BE ONE, Loved, and Joyful! Without BEING Loving and Physically Enjoying Ourselves and One-Another Thinking about Infinity will cause us to become Insane and die! BUT without achieving INFINITY-CONSCIOUSNESS while also Experiencing LIFE's PHYSICAL PLEASURES, JOYS, and SOULnesses, we cannot Evolve to that Level of SUPER-CONSCIOUSNESS that THEY already have! And without doing so WE cannot HOPE for FINAL CONTACT with THEM and OTHERS like them! Ultimately ADVANCED ALIENS are LOVERS of LIFE, PLEASURE-SHARERS, and SOPHISTICATED SENSUALISTS!

Infinity is definitely Seemingly Perplexingly Paradoxical, but Ultimately it is Eternally True and the Source of Super-Consciousness and Penultimately Meaningful Existence!

The Reality of The Universe is that IT IS an Infinite Set of Imperfect Fractals!

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About the Creator

Jean-Pierre Fenyo

American philosopher, writer, and audio-visual artist. Author of The Most Important Thought and founder of the NGO The Infinity Society.

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