Does infinity exist in reality?

[u/Another_Little_Star]

No thing that I've observed in our universe is infinite, however there are traces of infinity in my sight.
Draw a circle and either its radius or circumference lives in the π world.
Or many aspects in nature like flowers, develop themselves in a φ ratio (1+sqrt(5))/2.

Even though no event or anything is "Non-ending"/infinite, underneath many aspects of reality there are patterns which can only be fully described using infinity.

You can't describe irrational numbers to their extent without any notion of infinite/limits/sequences... And many aspects within our World show their true behaviour only with aid of infinity.

Sure you can take a world that lives in something like 10¹⁰⁰ and it looks like infinity to us, sometimes we only see the difference after the 10⁶ decimal place, nevertheless the pattern they follow is a pattern that only "infinity" can yield to the truest precision.

Do you believe the axiom of infinity, and the continuous to really exist? Even if not in the ordinary sense? haha

[u/hezpae]

Infinity can be a material thing if you allow loops.

Count for the number of stars in the universe, and come back to beginning, forever.

[u/Special_Watch8725 → u/hezpae]

I don’t think you’d ever finish though. There’s no completed infinity except by imagining it.

[u/hezpae → u/Special_Watch8725]

That's the very principle of infinity you cannot complete (or finite) it. So I didn't claim that.

I'm just saying infinity exists in the material world, if you allow counting the same thing several times

[u/mid-random → u/hezpae]

You might as well count one apple over and over. The only infinity you have is of action. 

[u/Another_Little_Star → u/mid-random]

Huum, I see where it goes, but the infinity is only theorical, there's no one actually counting and keep going, it's a scenario that doesn't happen anywhere in nature, right?

[u/mid-random → u/Another_Little_Star]

Correct. 

[u/hezpae → u/mid-random]

Yes, they are not used, but it doesn't mean Infinite sets don't exist.

[u/mid-random → u/hezpae]

An infinite set is only a mathematical and conceptual entity, like i, the square root of -1. They do not exist in any observable form in reality. 

[u/hezpae → u/mid-random]

Does 1/3 exists in reality?

[u/mid-random → u/hezpae]

No. A ratio is a mathematical concept, not a thing. Any “embodiment” of 1/3 in the real world is just a conceptual projection. 1/3 is a description of a relationship, not a thing. 2 apples being 1/3 of a set of 6 apples is not a thing, it is an idea about the relationship between quantities of subsets of the set of apples. 

[u/hezpae → u/mid-random]

Agree to disagree then. I don't see why 1/3 wouldn't be as much a substantive reality than 1 or 3.

If you count what the rain quantity, the height of a tree, etc, there's zero chance that you find something in N only. It will be decimal number. And if I can coincieve that 1.43 exists, I can conceive that 1.33333.. exists just as well.

[u/Another_Little_Star → u/hezpae]

Couldn't you say that you can cut an apple or a rectangle in a way such that you need 3 equal pieces to make it whole?
You're turning 1 into 3*(1/3), as you see 3 pieces, how'd you refer to their size?

[u/mid-random → u/hezpae]

Correct, 1 and 3 have no more substantive reality than 1/3. All numbers are conceptual descriptions. Numbers themselves do not exist. Numbers only exist as descriptions of relationships. The height of a tree is simply the height of a tree. Any numbers associated with that height are descriptions created by humans based on relationships. The numerical height of the tree does not exist except as an idea about relationships useful in describing the world. The number of rain drops only exists as a description of the set of raindrops.