Infinity is a Process

For the longest time, infinity seemed like a magical and rather useless concept. If anything, it was some object that was larger than everything else. It was a way to win arguments as a kid. If you ever found yourself in a shouting match, all you needed to do was state your position once more followed by the magic word "infinity" and you won, hands down.

Then I studied Analysis. And I realized that infinity can just be a way of talking about constraints on the result of a process if that process continues indefinitely. Perhaps we're uncomfortable with the thought of something continuing indefinitely. After all, everything in our lives seems to come to an end eventually. But isn't it true that the notion of an "end" places some additional conceptual burden on things? The idea of an infinite thing is actually much simpler; precisely one concept simpler than the alternative. And can't we always ask what comes after the end?

So, you see, infinity is simply a way to win arguments whether you are a kid or an adult.