Our entire existance...?

Question

A friend of mine recently got to thinking about the world and simply wrote this:

"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.

So, you do not exist."

Is this true? And if so, what does it mean about us? About our friends? Family? What are your opinions on this?

Yeah. Apparently this is not her own work... O.O

BUT, although it is from a book, what are your opinions on it? Do you think that it is possible? True?

Answer 1

It's a nice game to play with words but doesn't go more than half a sentance before it's simply entirely untrue.

Space is NOT thought to be infinite in size. In fact, I have yet to meet ONE physicist or astronomer who thought that even vaguely to be the case. Even if it were infinite in size, it would not mean there MUST be an infinite number of planets - space is space... what it IN space is an entirely different question (chests aren't necessarily filled with treasure either). The arguments don't get much better from there.

Which doesn't make that paragraph any less entertaining as a mind- and word-game. But it's just not so.

Answer 2

The author of the quote fails to define life before noting 'inhabited' worlds. If 'inhabited' only means organisms like humans then this idea may calculate but if life is merely energy then there isn't a single point in the entire universe that is not 'inhabited'. You can not agree to a definition of existence much less what does and does not exist.
Is it awareness? Then do rocks have awareness? If no awareness then do they exist? It's all a waste of time to contemplate as it will not help you live. If all pursuit for the 'answer' is abandoned then life happens. I don't know what other existence there is.

Answer 3

The premise that states that only some world are inhabited is false, therefore leading to a false conclusion that we do not exist.

If the universe were to be infinite, there would exist an infinite number of inhabited worlds as there would be no limit to the number of worlds that can be inhabited. Because of the complexity of the infinities, we will never know whether other worlds exist. But we can be certain that at least our thoughts exists because we know that we are thinking. And since we are our thoughts, we exist. (But it doesn't mean that our bodies exist.)

Answer 4

The statement is meaningless because it fails the fundamental axiom of the universe: existence exists.

For him to claim you don't exist, he would have to claim you never asked the question in the first place (because he provided it in answer to someone else). Thus the statement is false on its face.

Actually, though, the question is one of those "overcounting" type answers where one adds up the sums wrong by counting something twice, or undercounting something and thus creates an error as a result. Or by taking a statistical average and presuming it for the entire sample.

The average population of Nevada is 1.2 people per acre; this doesn't mean the population of Las Vegas is also 1.2 people an acre. There are square miles in Nevada that have population of zero.

Answer 5

Technically, We do exist. I see me, I see the dog, I see the things man invented. So we exist!

But lets go back to Fifth grade shall we??? ;D
You were taught about space and the atmosphere, the orbit, alignment, and stuff like that, but not all planets are not like that, therefore, there are other planets with inhabbitants similar to us because their planet matches its needs to make life!

-Proper distance from sun or light energy,
-Appropriate air, atmosphere.
-Good size in atmosphere,
-A gravity amount not as to fling into space, (XD)
-Water,
-Food,
-A tilt in the axis to adjust seasons.

These are what a planet needs to have living creatures frolic it! K? And by about 4 trillion to one to have inhabbitants???
Nonesense!

Answer 6

Ha - plagiarism is alive and well in the world I see.

I hope your friend has the decency to own up to the fact that she is a fraud, and pinched this off the genius Douglas Adams.

As for the quotation itself, it merely means that you can prove just about anything with statistics.

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics". PS. I didn't write this, and neither did your friend.

Answer 7

Yep, you can thank Douglas Adams for this bit of fluff, as found in the classic, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Answer 8

i've got faith the meaning of existence is that arithmetic is that it particularly is inevitably authentic. And a small subset of that it particularly is inevitably authentic is mathematically equivalent to the international which we hit upon ourselves in. In different words existence corresponds to mathematical fact. existence purely seems unlike arithmetic because of the fact we see so little of it, and we see it from interior itself particularly than because it particularly is.

Answer 9

hitchhiker's guide!!!

OK here is more info about how i think about this.

infinity is not real. its an explanation to our limitations. while it can be used as a coping mechanism, it can also make our lives look obsolite. your family and friends are right here. they're real. they're what you know. we're not even off this planet yet so screw the universe!!!

Answer 10

So your friend wrote this little gem, huh? Tell your friend to mail the royalty check to the HHGTG publisher before she gets her pants sued off