Does everything which has a beginning have an end?

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If you ask my mum she'd probably answer with my dads DIY attempt of the spare room.

One thought that popped into my head is a simple process (only read the first page apologise if this has been posted before)

- Pick a number (starting point)
- Divide it by 2
- Keep dividing by 2 till you get to 0

Reply 61

pjm600

Original post by blue n white army

One thought that popped into my head is a simple process (only read the first page apologise if this has been posted before)

- Pick a number (starting point)
- Divide it by 2
- Keep dividing by 2 till you get to 0

That's essentially the same as saying start at 0 and keep adding 1.

The end will be when you stop counting, you can't count forever.

Reply 62

Kiss

According to Agent Smith, yes:

Reply 63

jreid1994

Original post by pjm600

Well, not necessarily. Death is the action of dying, rather than a state, so death ends when you're dead.

Being dead never ends.

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Reply 64

shyamshah

Original post by tjf8

How about 'learning'?

Well you begin to learn at some point in your life and then you stop learning when you die, so I would say learning has a beginning and an end.

Reply 65

RemiMarcelle

People say there is.

But I don't think there is an end to things.

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Reply 66

fizzgig

There is at least one theory as to the nature of time in which time has two beginnings and no end. Theories like that are why crashing courses like "Theory of the Cosmos" is so much fun.

Reply 67

naman

Original post by Farm_Ecology

I would argue no.

For an example: Numbers.

where do they begin?

Reply 68

erniiee

Its actually such a mind**** if you try and think of the beginning of the world, and what was there before that.

Reply 69

fizzgig

Original post by naman

where do they begin?

Numbers in general do not have a defined beginning or end, but there are several subsets of numbers which have defined minima but undefined maxima, and vice versa. Consider the set of positive integers. The minimum number in this set is 1, but the set is infinitely large so it is impossible to attach a numerical value to the maximum. Therefore a list of the positive integers, ordered from low to high, will have a beginning but no end.

This is not what was written by the poster you replied to, but I think it was what they meant.

Reply 70

Plainview

Original post by shyamshah

Well you begin to learn at some point in your life and then you stop learning when you die, so I would say learning has a beginning and an end.

Not one person's learning, learning in general.

Reply 71

shyamshah

Original post by tjf8

Not one person's learning, learning in general.

Oh then I don't know.

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Reply 72

Laozi

Yes.

Eventually the whole universe will cease to be with entropy. Even numbers, because without humans there's no such thing as 'numbers'.

Reply 73

Bobifier

Original post by shyamshah

But what is the actual first number? Zero isnt because we have minus numbers.

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If you restrict the earlier suggestion to natural numbers then all is well.

Reply 74

Bobifier

Original post by pjm600

Well, not necessarily. Death is the action of dying, rather than a state, so death ends when you're dead.

Why would you deliberately misinterpret what someone said like that? You knew that by death he meant being dead but I don't know, I guess you couldn't cope with him being right so you told him he was wrong about something he didn't even mean instead? I honestly can't understand your motivation.

Reply 75

Rybee

The concept of love which has a beginning, and IMO, can be forever eternal.

Reply 76

nulli tertius

Original post by shyamshah

Hey, I was just wondering this question. For example, humans have a beginning to life and an end which is death. Pretty much everything in the world has a beginning and an end, but is this true for every single thing? Is there anything which doesn't follow this pattern?

A TSR thread on which are the top ten universities has a beginning...

Reply 77

Jkn

"Pi is a ratio" is the very thing that is disproved in order to show that Pi is irrational (has an infinite decimal expansion unperiodically).

The concept of a dart and end is only challenged by the concept of mathematical infinity.

There are different types of infinite sets. Some are denumerable (meaning "countable") such as the natural numbers 1,2,3,... These sets, by definition have a beginning an yet no end. Some are not denumerable such the irrational numbers to which there exists an infinite number in any finite section of the number line, however small.

Both are examples of a beginning without an end. However, it is a question for philosophy whether or not these sorts of abstract mathematical ideas only existence in a mathematical world we have created or if they really have any significance upon our own reality.

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Reply 78

Chesska

According to what we know nothing has an end, When we die as humans our body rots and becomes food and nutrients for plants and animals. we are recycled, when the world eventually dies it will have just changed into something else, when the universe finally implodes again it will simply have changed, then the big bang will happen again and time will go on as it does.