The INFINITUBE Wiki - A Catalog of the Global History of the Infinite

Mission
''' "There is not--nor has there ever been--any single correct or univocal concept of the infinite." '''

--David Bentley Hart, "Notes on the Concept of the Infinite in the History of Western Metaphysics" Given that until recently most definitions of infinity have been abstractions, Hart's assertion is almost tautological; how could any conception of something as ethereal as the infinite possibly be "correct"? But the latter half of his formulation, I think, is good. Infinity, as far as its global historical instantiations are concerned, has ever and always been articulated with form-fitting polyvocality.

Mission Impossible
This wiki can't catalog every manifestation of the concept of the infinite throughout the recorded history of planet Earth. I don't think I need to justify such an incompetence, but I will with a fun example.

Georg Cantor, one of the patron saints of this site, has shown that there are an infinite quantity of unique transfinite numbers. So forget about physical infinity, metaphysical infinity, aesthetic infinity, desire for the infinite, etc--the task of merely counting each set of infinite numbers would occupy a finite being until their last breath!

Mission Only Slightly More Reasonable
This wiki will:


 * 1) provide non-technical audiences with concise, approachable resources about many forms of the infinite,
 * 2) argue by implication (and somewhat atheologically) that, at least since Cantor, the term "infinite" functions as a kind of anti-transcendal signifier because it does all the legwork of a monotheistic or pantheistic religious divine, but as an uninspired effect of human language, and
 * 3) support INFINITUBE, a text-based mobile game that I'm developing with Pat Healy and Eli Mattern.

How I'd Use This Site if I Were You
If I were you, then I'd do whatever you want to do. I won't speculate.

What I can tell you is that the articles on this site will serve one or more of the following five purposes:


 * 1) They will be definitionally related to the infinite, i.e. they will explicate a particular classification of the infinite itself.
 * 2) They will make modest attempts to organize the infinite into recognizable categories.
 * 3) They will support articles described in (1) by articulating concepts upon which such classifications are predicated.
 * 4) They will briefly summarize the life of a given human being who made contributions to our understanding of the infinite.
 * 5) They'll wager a connection between a given topic (e.g. a painting, jelly fish, or political strategy) and its connection to one of the classifications described in (1).

A Thank You (No I Didn't Just Write This Because I'm Late Again)
This site is possible through the support of the University of Pittsburgh's World History Center. My deepest thanks to Professor Ruth Mostern, Professor Molly Warsh, and Dr. Alexandra Straub. Building a digital monument to everything is not the only job I've ever enjoyed, but it is the one I've enjoyed most, and I can't express how grateful I am that you're letting me do it.

Important articles
 