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The Rest Is Science

Paradoxes Of Infinity (Infinity Part 1)

3/24/20261 hr

Is infinity actually a real number, or just a brilliant mathematical hallucination? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (VSauce) tumble down the numerical rabbit hole to explore the mind-bending origins of infinity. They unpick exactly how humanity managed to trap the endless void. From ancient paradoxes to endless hotel rooms, they dive into the bizarre history of our universe's most impossible idea.

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Clips

Showing 10 of 12
Newton’s Vicious Smear Campaign
Nagel’s Immortality Trap
How Limits Beat Zeno
Immortality As Claustrophobia
Is Infinity A Number?
Hilbert’s Hotel Mind-Bender
Newton’s Secret Drawer
Infinity Of Infinities Check-In
The Flag And The Lamp
Tease: Bigger Than Infinity

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Hannah Fry· Host0:00

    Welcome to The Rest is Science. I'm Hannah Fry.

  2. Michael Stevens· Host0:01

    And I'm Michael Stevens.

  3. Hannah Fry· Host0:03

    Okay, Michael, I'm gonna, gonna start with an easy question for you today.

  4. Michael Stevens· Host0:06

    Okay.

  5. Hannah Fry· Host0:07

    Would you want to live forever?

  6. Michael Stevens· Host0:08

    No.

  7. Hannah Fry· Host0:09

    No. Me neither. I think, I think life only has meaning because it's finite.

  8. Michael Stevens· Host0:14

    Yeah, I agree.

  9. Hannah Fry· Host0:15

    Here's another question for you though that's, uh, related. If you had the choice between dying in the next five minutes or living another week, what would you, what would you choose? [upbeat music] This episode is brought to you by Cancer Research UK.

  10. Michael Stevens· Host0:32

    If you wanted to type out the entire human genome, you would have to type at 60 words a minute for eight hours a day for about 50 years. Okay, that's the scale of the DNA rule book inside each one of your cells, telling it when to grow, when to divide, and when to stop.

  11. Hannah Fry· Host0:52

    And different tissues read that same rule book in different ways. So a skin cell doesn't behave like a lung cell.

  12. Michael Stevens· Host0:58

    And cancer can begin when those instructions change, not one dramatic moment, but through small, gradual edits over time.

  13. Hannah Fry· Host1:06

    Now, cancer isn't one disease. It is more than 200 types shaped by where those changes to the rule book happen and how cells respond.

  14. Michael Stevens· Host1:16

    Cancer Research UK is the world's largest charitable funder of cancer research, backing studies across all types of cancer.

  15. Hannah Fry· Host1:24

    Work that takes years of very careful, steady progress to deliver each breakthrough.

  16. Michael Stevens· Host1:29

    For more

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