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Infinity is not a number . (oblig. Numberphile)
Riemann sphere has entered the chat
It's not a number and yet you can still do maths with it
Love it.
And the opposite is true of zero. It turns nothing into something.
Clearly you've never listened to mathematicians talk about infinities. Things get weird when you try to develop concepts around the inconceivably large and small. If infinity is a thought terminating cliche from your perspective, my suggestion would be to change your perspective.
Infinity is one of those concepts that might be the most human things. Does it exist outside our perception? It exists in metaphysical sense as we can perceive it, but our senses and minds are imprecise meat, so does that mean infinity doesn't exist outside human experience? Like bigger and smaller infinities, is that a sign it's a human perception thing or is that itself also a quirk of human perception? We can't separate ourselves from the reality we form. I keep getting lost in the infinity
this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
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