paper

Two Essays on the Archimedean versus Non-Archimedean Debate

arXiv:0809.4509

Abstract

Part 1 : For more than two millennia, ever since Euclid's geometry, the so called Archimedean Axiom has been accepted without sufficiently explicit awareness of that fact. The effect has been a severe restriction of our views of space-time, a restriction which above all affects Physics. Here it is argued that, ever since the invention of Calculus by Newton, we may actually have {\it empirical evidence} that time, and thus space as well, are not Archimedean. Part 2 : There is an insufficient awareness about the {\it rich and complex} structure of various totally ordered scalar fields obtained through the {\it ultrapower} construction. This rich and complex structure comes from the presence of {\it infinitesimals} in such fields, presence which leads to the fact that such fields are {\it non-Archimedean}. Here, with the concept of {\it walkable world}, which has highly intuitive and pragmatic geometric meaning, the mentioned rich and complex structure is illustrated. The issues presented have relevance for what are usually called the "infinities in physics".

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