Until the work of Georg Cantor (1845-1918), nobody had much of a grip on the concept of infinity. His work is concerned with mathematical infinities, not physical ones. He showed that it is possible to demonstrate that even though both the integers (the "counting numbers" of 1,2,3...) and the mathematically termed "real" numbers (all the points that lie, for instance, between 1 and 2, such as 1.1 and 1.34 and 1.567) are both infinite (unending), there are more of the real numbers than integers.
That is, there are such things are larger infinities and smaller infinities. I mention this to underline that we are finite beings and so our imaginations too are better at dealing with finite things. Psychologists, neuroscientists and others are quite aware that the reality that our minds show us is something of an illusion, in the neighborhood of the 'continuous' action of a movie that is really a series of separate pictures shown in rapid succession.
In realms more human than mathematical, we have other tricks and twists in our thinking. Many people think that "intelligence" is an important and basic human attribute. So, since about the 1920's, there have been many serious attempts to measure intelligence. Some of the concepts and methods invented then are still used today. However, it is easy to see that intelligence is not one thing, not a single variable, but many skills and abilities.
Yesterday, I wrote about wanting more, without even knowing or caring about more what. That feeling probably comes from a basic emotional hunger, one that can be felt without being well understood. Similarly, our imaginations can construct a variable, such as 'intelligence', or a sort of mental direction, such as 'higher', without a good grasp of what we mean. Once we have 'higher' made, we can make 'highest', something, anything, that is higher than anything else. In today's competitive marketplace, you might quickly make something higher than my highest thing and call it "highest plus" or "highest grande". Then, a third competitor makes catchy and poetic ads that everyone remembers featuring a song that we all go around mouthing for something called "highest ultimate", hoping that the name and the superiority of the product deter other competitors.
All that can and does happen in various forms without anyone knowing what they are talking about. So, deal with variables and superlatives cautiously. When we hear about ultimate chewing gum, a smarter rivet or the strongest rosebush, we may be in the realm of confusion and puffery.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
