Cool story, bro.
Look, this dumbing-down approach of “you’re just denying yourself/lacking the language for it” is sadly wasted on me - I know all too well how it is to deal with people whose vocabulary is all too conservative and restricted.
In fact, I love thinking outside the box - unreasonably so. I love the opportunity to do so.
I also love the rigorous rationalisation of exactly how you get outside the box, and the appreciation of every tiny step with all the exact minutae involved to get there, including the illegitimate ones.
I know what you think you’re explaining and exactly how you’re getting there - but with the apparent lack of telepathy at my disposal, I don’t seem to be able to get you to understand that I understand every single thing you’re doing and saying, whilst also rejecting it.
You tell me:
how do I communicate the fact that I don’t need apple analogies to understand what you’re saying, whilst still rejecting it?
Tell me how, because you’re just wasting time, keystrokes and computer bits for both of us.
By the way, if you had “infinite apples in front of you”, you’d be an apple and there would be nothing but apple everywhere.
You can’t do that “twice”. Everywhere is already taken.
If you had an infinite line of apples extending out “in front of you”, you’d not be able to see beyond a small number of them, you’d never be able to get to (\frac{1}2) way along to even divide it into 2, nor would you ever be able to divide all them into any finite number of apples. There would be a finite limit on apples going upwards, downwards, left, right, even backwards in this situation - just not forwards: the same as the natural numbers. Thus the line of apples is distinguished from an entire universe of apples by virtue of its finite constraints up, down, left, right, back, and in all other ways other than forwards. So any “size” of such a line of apples would be dictated by the size of the finite constraints, not the infinity that stretched before you. The infinity has only 1 type (quality), and no tokens (quantities): I am being very very very specific about the kind of ends that are going on here - don’t give me your shit about how I’m being broad.
You can imagine “apples in front of you” in any way you like, and the same principle applies - you cannot get to the “end” of that line and add any more.
But pay attention to the following:
You could even set up a line of apples directly underneath the first, and there would still be infinite apples. The fact that you started the line with 2 apples on top of each other doesn’t give the infinite line “more” or “less” apples. You changed a finite constraint. The infinity is just as unforgivingly endless in its monolithic single extension either way. There was no end before, and there’s still no end - quantity is just as meaningless either way.
You regard the change in the finite number of apples that start the infinity as a change in the infinity.
This is just wrong, I’m sorry.
It’s the finitude that governs the size. Any infinity has only one way of being infinite, and it defies all possible quantification, or operation using quantities.
You can “imagine” what it would be like “hey, let’s say it was the infinity was affected by changes to finite constraints” and go on from there, and you have your arguments.
Fine.
Do that.
It’s not legitimate, but let’s see what happens.