rfwu

I've come up of a theory or law or something. I think that everything that has a beginning has an end, and vice versa. Think about it. A circle has no beginning or end. Time has no concievable beginning, so it would seem to have no end. The only thing that I can think of that has violated that law is the line called the "ray". Where it begins with one point, but continues on forever. However, this is only a concept and does not reflect reality. What do you think?

jpbrooks

Well, what about the validity of your "theory"? It certainly had a beginning in your own mind. So the critical question is does its validity have an end? (Since the "theory" is assumed to be true for all things, then) the validity of the "theory" itself would have to have an end (at which point the "theory" could no longer be confirmed). But since your "theory" cannot predict when its own validity would end, it cannot adequately be used to make any other predictions (and is therefore unusable). However, if, on the other hand, the validity of the "theory" has no end, then it becomes its own counterexample.

Albert Cipriani

Dear JP,
Cosmologists predict "heat death" for this universe, that is, everything will eventually stop moving.

Ergo, what for you is the inconceivable notion of time being without a beginning and therefore being unable to have an ending, is destined to be refuted when the motion that STARTED with the Big Bang STOPS. -- Cheers, Albert the Traditional Catholic

rfwu

I was only talking about the physical realm.

Adrian Selby

Albert, cosmologists change their mind, and that is to say nothing of whether there would be, at that point where this universe ends, not another springing from it, or that it doesn't form some universe creating event. Lots of things could follow from the end of this universe that aren't a priori impossible. The more interesting question is whether there would be nothing at all, rather than just the absence of this universe, either at the point it was formed or at the end.

jpbrooks

Even restricting the claim to "every physical thing that has a beginning also has an end" doesn't eliminate all the problems. It is difficult to see how certain physical things, such as photons, could even be shown to either confirm or violate the "theory". The "theory" just remains a curious conjecture that seems to apply only to certain physical things in the universe at the present time.