[ExI] Can a single observer make an infinite number of computation in a finite time? (Was Mathematical Realism)

[John Clark]

On Sat, Oct 10, 2026 at 10:55 AM Jason Resch via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

*>> not just because only 62 digits of pi would be necessary to compute the
>> circumference of the observable universe with an error of less than
>> the Planck length. The big question is whether it's possible, even in
>> theory, for an individual observer to make an infinite, and not just very
>> large, number of computations in a finite amount of time. If the universe
>> is only capable of calculating a particular finite number of digits of pi
>> then talking about a digit larger than that number is meaningless. *
>>
>
> *> I would say it is independent of us, but not meaningless. We speak of
> other possible universes in a greater multiverse that we will never access,
> but that idea is not meaningless. For example, without that idea how else
> does one explain fine tuning without invoking intelligent design?*
>

*As I mentioned before Hugh Everett's Many Worlds can explain that, and yet
it doesn't say everything conceivable must exist, it says something much
more modest, it only says that everything that does not violate
Schrodinger's equation must exist. So the answer to the fine-tuning problem
comes from physics not  mathematics. *

*> The amount of memory available is also an important consideration when
> talking about infinite computations, as eventually you will need to repeat
> states after exponential time.*
>

*In **Freeman Dyson's paper Time Without End
<https://suli.pppl.gov/2019/course/RevModPhys.51.447.pdf> he admits that
digital memory is limited by the number of particles available to construct
it, but he proposes that an expanding universe might permit analog memory
whose capacity grows without bound, even if the number of physical
components remains fixed. For that to work it would certainly help if space
was continuous, but even if it is measuring things with unlimited precision
would be, to say the least, challenging. *

* John K Clark*

>
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