I was wondering the other day, what is finite and what is infinite?
I understand that everything around me is finite. After all, no one lives forever. Material things (except for Tupperware) decompose. The cycle of life dictates that we’re born, we grow, we die, we decay, etc.
On the flip side, though, there is the idea that energy is constant–it’s just its form that changes. When we look at an apple ripening on a tree, from green to red to overripe to rotten, we are seeing state changes of energy. According to some ways of understanding our physical world, the underlying energy remains constant.
According to this view, energy can take one material form (e.g., a leaf) and over time changes into another material form (e.g., humus). At the end of the day, the energy remains relatively constant.
If this is true, it means that each of us is as old as the hills. After all, if the same energy has been around since the beginning of the earth’s formation, shape-shifting through time, then we are part of this grand shape-shifting. We are comprised of matter that is energy that’s been around since the earth began. We’re all senior citizens… ;)