There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. Suppose we use a base 26 number system with the letters of the alphabet for symbols. Suppose we make a list by starting at the number "A" and counting to the number "ZZZZZZ." Then we delete each number that is not a word, or the first 6 letters of a word in the English language. We would then have a list of every word in the English language that is 6 letters or less, and the first 6 letters of every word that is longer than 6 letters.

     The keyboard on this word processor I’m using can make 95 different symbols including the spacebar. This includes upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols and punctuation marks. Suppose I use all of these symbols for a base 95 number system. Obviously, there are an infinite number of numbers, but let’s suppose we start counting at the first number, and go to a number that has 1 million digits in it. We would then have a list that contains the first million characters of every possibility for a written document. The list would be finite. This means that a detailed, written history of your life story from beginning to end is actually just a number on the number line. While we ourselves have relatively recent beginnings, our biographies have always existed. They are just numbers on the number line. Very long numbers, but numbers just the same. Just single whole integers, just like the number 3, or the number 17.

     An old philosophical idea states that if an infinite number of monkeys were typing on an infinite number of typewriters, eventually one would produce a Shakespearean play. The fact is, you can’t have an infinite number of anything physical, because infinity is mathematically impossible to reach. You wouldn’t need to go to infinity anyway. Just start counting from the first number, and eventually you will reach every play ever written by Shakespeare.

     All computer software uses a base 2 number system with 0’s and 1’s for the symbols. The 0’s and 1’s represent negative and positive electrical charges that are used to represent data in a mathematical process occurring within the electrical hardware. An individual 0 or 1 is a bit, and 16 bits are a byte. A megabyte is just a 16 million digit number. A compact disc has the ability to store 622 megabytes. So that means that if I start counting in base 2, and count up to a number that is all 1’s with 9,952,000,000 digits in it, I would then have every mathematical possibility for a compact disc. Not only would I have every song ever recorded, but I would also have every mathematical possibility for an audible sound. I would have every executable software program that can be stored on a computer disc. I would also have every individual disc of every executable software program that there could ever be.

     Scientists have discovered that all life on Earth is made of cells, and that each cell has a genetic code stored in molecules in the center of each cell. There are only four kinds of molecules used to store this code within the protein molecules known as DNA, which make up the genes and chromosomes in the cell’s nucleus. These four molecules are called amino acids and are represented by the letters A, G, T, and C. All forms of life use the same four amino acids. The genetic code is simply a software code that commands the process of life. If I start counting in base 4, and use A, G, T, and C as the symbols, and count until I have a 12 trillion digit number, I would then have every mathematical possibility for a genetic code. Your unique, individual DNA genetic code is just a number on the number line, just like the number 3, or the number 17. Just a single whole integer.

     Most scientists agree that the Universe had a beginning, but consider this: everything that there could ever possibly be in the Universe, pre-existed on the number line. Your unique DNA code, every sound you have ever heard, every word you have ever spoken, everything you have ever seen, and pictures of you and everything you have ever done or will ever do, pre-existed on the number line for all of eternity without beginning or end.

     This is the paradox of mathematical possibilities. It truly seems contradictory. There are an infinite number of numbers, so it naturally seems like there should be an infinite number of mathematical possibilities. Two plus two is a mathematical addition equation. If we created every mathematical possibility for a digital photograph, there would have to be a picture of every possible addition equation. The number of photographs is finite, but the number of possible addition equations is infinite.

     Our pictures of everything would include a picture of every possible addition equation that would fit within the format of a single picture. Of the infinite possible equations that are too large to fit on one picture, you would find two pictures, three pictures, and so on, would be required. The pictures would all be there. It’s just like the number line. In the Arabic numeral system there are only 10 symbols required to make an infinite number of numbers. Numbers are the only thing in the Universe that are infinite.

     Absolutely anything that is in the Universe can be found within the finite Paradox of Mathematical Possibilities. Even our individual thoughts can be found on the number line. Even this entire website is just a single whole integer, just like the number 3, or the number 17. There has never been a time when it didn’t exist as a number on the number line.