The infinity from nothing paradox and the immovable object meets the irresistible force

Shackel, Nicholas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1751-1400 2018. The infinity from nothing paradox and the immovable object meets the irresistible force. European Journal for Philosophy of Science 8 , pp. 417-433. 10.1007/s13194-017-0192-2

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Abstract

In this paper I present a novel supertask in a Newtonian universe that destroys and creates infinite masses and energies, showing thereby that we can have infinite indeterminism. Previous supertasks have managed only to destroy or create finite masses and energies, thereby giving cases of only finite indeterminism. In the Nothing from Infinity paradox we will see an infinitude of finite masses and an infinitude of energy disappear entirely, and do so despite the conservation of energy in all collisions. I then show how this leads to the Infinity from Nothing paradox, in which we have the spontaneous eruption of infinite mass and energy out of nothing. I conclude by showing how our supertask models at least something of an old conundrum, the question of what happens when the immovable object meets the irresistible force.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Additional Information:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher:	Springer Verlag (Germany)
ISSN:	1879-4912
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 November 2017
Date of Acceptance:	16 November 2017
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 20:22
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/106377

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