Letter#43 Trip to Infinity, Apple in a Box & Hindu Cycle of the Universe

And the game begins anew - Neil Gaiman

Dear Friend,

It had been a while since I last watched anything on Netflix, but last night I finally had some time to catch up. I stumbled upon "Trip to Infinity," and it truly stood out among the shows I've seen recently. The series delves into the concept of infinity using a paradox involving an apple in a sealed box. Imagine placing an apple inside a perfectly sealed box. As time passes, the apple decays, eventually turning into dust. Over many years, the remaining particles heat up, undergo nuclear fusion, and transform into ion nuclei and photons. After countless eons, even the neutrons decay into protons and fundamental particles. Through an unimaginably long span, every possible state is experienced by the particles in the apple. Eventually, these states must repeat. Consequently, the apple reverts to its original state at some point in this vast timeline.

The documentary then suggests a thought-provoking notion - the possibility that we might also exist within a box, that our entire universe could be contained within one. As a child, I used to gaze at the sky and wonder: what occurred before the big bang? The apple in the box seems to offer an answer - before the big bang, there was a universe that might have collapsed, triggering the big bang that led to our current universe. This idea resonates with the Hindu belief in an infinite, cyclic universe, where time endlessly repeats events, from fleeting moments to the universe's entire lifespan. This eternal cycle of creation and destruction guides the various states of matter, driven by the everlasting force of time, or kala.

This implies, my friend, that I may have penned this letter multiple times in various universes, and will continue to do so across different universes.

I’ll write again, my friend.

Yours,

Bohemian Dialogue