You cannot touch anything. Ever!

OK, here we go.

Math is pretty universal. I'm no big fan of it, but it does apply to most things on a basic level. Half of 2 is 1.... 1+1 is 2, and so on.

So fry your noggin on this:
Look at your computer screen. There is a set distance between it and you, right? Let's say a foot.
Well, in any given set distance...there has to be a halfway point, right? Right.
So move halfway. Now you're 6 inches away. Well, there's still another halfway point, right? Sure...so now you're 3 inches away.
Thing is...every halfway point is an exponentially shorter distance away.
Basically, there will -always- be distance between you and that screen. Why?
Because as you move toward something you have to eventually hit the halfway point...and then a new half-point is created, which you must again reach to create another, and so on.
But by that logic, you can never actually go -all- the way...because as long as you're only halfway there, you're -not- there.

So, using this as a guide...nomatter how close you think you are to something...you can't actually be touching it.

 

Unless you are touching it. Also, there isn't just one halfway point, theres as many of them as you want there to be.

 

Yeah, that's not true. That's one of Zeno's paradoxes, which isn't a paradox. See this link: http://www.jimloy.com/physics/zeno.htm

Still, you're right, you can't touch anything, but for a different reason; it's because the atoms' electron shells repell one another, so before the atoms actually contact, their electromagnetic fields push them apart.

Of course, one can argue that all an atom is is a group of electromegnetic charges (positive protons, negetive electrons, and neutral neutrons) that only *seem* to be solid.

 

so what causes the bump on my head when I get whacked by a two by four?

 

Atoms are made of protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons and neutrons are made of quarks. Quarks, and everything else are the vibrations of superstrings. So, there'are no real things, we're just like music - vibrations . Or, according to other theories, we're just holograms or something.

 

We are the products of imagination.

 

There are infinite halves, but getting closer also deals with exponants, right? And wouldn't there also concievably be a point zero? Of which half is zero. I never did much math.......

 

lol..threadstarter is crazy....

why bother trying to think of stuff like that? if you feel your finger touching the computer screen, then your finger is probably touching the computer screen.....its not like theres a half-way point between 2 things that are in contact with each other....

there is something called the planck constants.......and the planck distance is considered to be the shortest possible distance between 2 particles without them being at the same point in space........so.....does that help solve your problem?

 

Go study Calculus.

 

Internal swelling.

 

I'm recieving mixed signals from you...

 

well if we cant touch anything, then i guess we just become part of what we contact.

 

Ummm.... that whole thing is a product of ancient greek thinking. You see they didn't really have algebra or arithmetic and thought largely in fractions.

It turns out you really can shoot a turtle with an arrow....

 

Yeah, I learned about this in philosophy class- it's Zeno's paradox, and it's been debunked.

 

OMFG!!1! Are you serious!? I gotta go try that out! Fuck man, that'll be so cool!

 

this is about limits, which is basically what calculus is.

 

was going to say something similar



in a similar order of thought, proof that electromagentism is much stronger exists in the drop of a cannon ball from a great height


if gravity were stronger than electromagnetism when the cannon ball hit the ground it's atoms would shatter unleashing nuclear force

but since gravity is so feeble and weak compared to most other forces (electromagnetism is a big one though) the cannon ball may deform, as may the ground beneath it, but the atoms themselves are unharmed,

I personally think that is some cool physical science.....

 

see this theory proves how our man mad logic and thought processes don't come close to explaining reality. rather, they are useful fictions, models, tools for describing reality. an objective model can never adequetly describe an experience, because that is what reality is - your experience. and when you test that model, you experience it to be true - going halfway over and over and realizing that you'll never touch it. but during another experince, you could just stick your finger out and touch it without applying any of those mathematical "rules", and it would be just as real.
the thing about mathematics, and all science for that matter, is that they were by breaking up the world into bits and pieces which are easily recognized by all peopel - shared experince. such as, distance between two objects, the area of an object etc... but when it comes down to it, the only way that those objects are objects at all is if they are experienced by the human mind, and as we grow we begin to see things as seperate rather than related because we are taught to apply these models of reality to everything.
in "reality" all tha matter around you, from the computer in front of you and air between it and even you, is fundamentally the same thing - atoms made of bits of energy. you experience the computer as a seperate, solid object because your brain interprets it this way, which is useful since our brains are wired to think in terms of mathematical, logical models. but the whole journey through the air to the computer is basically the same, and you could apply that math to any other point just as quickly - is the mid point between you and the computer not as "real" as the endpoint (computer)? so how is it possible to ever touch the mid point? same logic, different situation.
the point is, all these words and models and theories are just ideas that explain reality as experienced most often by us, in ways that are most useful to us. but they usually descirbe the world as a fixed environment with strict subject object distincitons, and are mistaken for actual "reality" which is beyond all words or symbols. every thought, idea and theory you have can also explain a bit or piece of the larger situation, and that is how the brain works. if you want to understand "reality" which i can't come close to explaining, pay attention to the experience itself of moving your finger through an atmosphere of energy and then touching a mass of energy which is experienced much differently. don't try to explain it, that would require you to move on to another linear, logical set of experiences (math models, etc.). just pay attention

 

basically my point, if your tired of reading, is that reality at its base is totally relative, but infinite at the same time. all mathematical models are useful tools which are easy appplied by our brains for relative social and survival functions. but when we see them as "truths", the let us forget that reality is infinite, but rather somehow fixed.


my biggest problem is that even in trying to explain this, i am simply creating another model to explain reality which, while it may encompass a larger range of relationships, still comes no where close. for, once again i am trying to explain the unexplainable - trying to prove with words why nothing can really be proven with words.