hmmm. I'm pondering.
In return, I send you the comic strip that a philosophy professor posted on his door. It showed a tree, in a forest, having fallen. The caption was "_of course_ it makes a noise!" and the sound bubble coming from the tree said "ohhhh, SHIT!"

It worked for me just now with that link. Try updating your adobe flashplayer. :) I'll see if I can locate a different link though.

For your enjoyment: Children of the Stars
http://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/w...

This mystic used this resource and many others to write Shadows Live Under Seashells.. I actually took notes from the DVR'd recordings that I still have to this day.

Not what I said. Not that I reject that idea fully.
Although, it is more probable that a number of the ingredients required for life came from elsewhere in the universe.

No, I assume energy is one of the ingredients. I have no idea what specific matter or other effects might be needed.

Are you equating with any significance the effects from lighting strikes with with effects from an uncountable amount of supernovas?

I had thought that was your reasoning why a "non-sensical" infinite universe is the only possible outcome from an infinite amount of time pasted.

I still find no reason to reject that existence may have been around forever. But now we are nearly back to square one.

That is uncertain. To know requires awareness.

There are also these Hexaflexagons which seemingly defy logic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIVIegSt...

Good evening khalling,
A most perplexing paradox indeed. A is A. The exception that proves the rule? I have considered the notion that matter, energy and time are not infinite, but a finite sum that recycles. One collapse, then expansion, a big bang if you will, and then another cycle and then another, but always the same quantity just is rotated like a skipping record over and over in the same groove. It is a paradox as then the cycles become infinite until/unless they don't. Alternatively it could be that these things are finite, but of such a massive scale and quantity that our inability to quantify them also prevents us from perceiving their origin or end. If only I had all of the answers... I would have no need to study philosophy, or anything else for that matter. :)
Infinity is a concept that is by its very nature something we can not quantify or fully define. Is it not? Where is Steven Hawking when I need him?
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Regards.
O.A.

If the Gods existed and had identity similar to the example you gave. We mere humans would figure it out in short time.

Ok, I see where you're getting the infinite universe idea from.

So would that mean if a something related to A (such as time) was infinite in a certain way (such as time that has passed) then A (such as the universe) would be infinite?

Hello Robbie53024,
I watched the cartoon. Of course I am familiar with Plato's allegory of the cave, having read Plato's Republic. This of course is one of the primary differences between Aristotle and his teacher. Aristotle believed we do not live in a cave, can observe reality and that there is nothing more. The empiricist understood we may have false perceptions, but could not make the leap in logic. He believed only in what he could observe, that A is A and that our inability to understand or accept something is not sufficient for conclusions that require speculation without empirical evidence. What Plato does prove in his allegory is not the existence of what cannot be proven, only the fallibility of human perception. The Objectivist position on this issue is of course in alignment with Aristotle and permits no conclusions without evidence. This does not prove things yet without evidence do not exist, only that it is not objectivist doctrine to postulate that which has no empirical evidence or sound theory extrapolated from empirical evidence.

Your counter argument cannot be dis-proven or proven. Such is the nature of faith. The stories in the Bible cannot be verified. The authors cannot be cross examined. We do not witness unassailable miracles in our time. Many brilliant philosophers and men have wrestled with this problem and there remains no consensus.
"God does not play dice" Einstein
I am not as brilliant as Einstein or Aristotle. Many believe. Many wish to hedge their bets. :)
I cannot draw comfortable conclusion.
Life is short. I feel soon enough, may be sooner than desirable.
Regards,
O.A.

You keep using your infinite universe thing. I never assumed or theorized that the universe was infinite.
You also never did say to anyone why you thought that, if time which has pasted is infinite, the universe must also be infinite.

I'm sure if ants could reason like humans they'd figure it out in short time. This is because we actually exist. We have a specific identity.