# infinite regression **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 21, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712 "2012-12-21T05:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![the\_keldorian90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@the\_keldorian90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_keldorian90)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/1 "2012-12-21T05:47:19Z")
hey! i’ve seen a clip on youtube about a man talking something about this: 'imagine an artist painting a picture of an artist painting a picture of an artist painting a picture and so on… of an artist painting a picture of a landscape…infinite regression, where the artist becomes both the observer and the observed.Through this example he sad that time is a freeway with an infinite number of lanes. what did he mean? i’m awaiting your replies.thank you gentlemen 😃 ! ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/2 "2012-12-21T06:32:57Z")
[Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] I have no idea. [Quote=cmyk] You get the idea… [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote] ad infinitum. ---
**Author:** ![Mavic\_Chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mavic\_Chen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavic_Chen)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/3 "2012-12-21T10:44:14Z")
Try pointing a video camera at it’s own display monitor. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/4 "2012-12-21T12:19:54Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > ad infinitum. How’d he \*\*\*do \*\*\*that? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/5 "2012-12-21T12:58:38Z")
Without actually seeing the video the OP alludes to I can’t be sure, but it sounds like the video author may have been either getting at multiple parallel universes (which would explain the “infinite lane highway”) or the theory that we’re a simulation embedded in a simulation etc (which explains the infinite regression), or some combination. That or he was some proponent of some wacky Time-Cube-esque theory and we’ll never figure out what the video author was on about without seeing the video (and even then…). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/6 "2012-12-21T14:00:26Z")
I just gotta ask. . . This wasn’t by any chance a snippet of “Escape from the Planet of the Apes,” was it? Eric ‘Victor Newman’ Braeden, portraying Dr. Hasslein, mentions this somehow in connection to how the apes were able to time travel. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/7 "2012-12-21T14:28:19Z")
Going by the description in the OP (which is all we have), the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that the creator of the video is an idiot (and/or drug addled) talking grandiose and incoherent nonsense. That, of course, is assuming that such a video even exists, a claim for which we have been given no evidence, even though it would to have been very easy to provide. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/8 "2012-12-21T15:04:56Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I just gotta ask. . . This wasn’t by any chance a snippet of “Escape from the Planet of the Apes,” was it? Eric ‘Victor Newman’ Braeden, portraying Dr. Hasslein, mentions this somehow in connection to how the apes were able to time travel. That’s the clip I thought of. too. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/9 "2012-12-21T15:41:12Z")
It’s turtles all the way down ---
**Author:** ![notsoheavyd3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@notsoheavyd3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notsoheavyd3)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/10 "2012-12-21T16:00:27Z")
Isn’t what he saying just wrong though? I mean if I read this on the wiki correctly [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck\_time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_time) There actually is a smallest unit of time that has any meaning in a real sense. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/11 "2012-12-21T16:09:38Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > That’s the clip I thought of. too. Here’s a link ([CULT MOVIE REVIEW: Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) | John Kenneth Muir](http://johnkennethmuir.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/cult-movie-review-escape-from-the-planet-of-the-apes-1971/)) that shows the picture of the infinite regress of artists, and provides this quote from the movie "Time is like a freeway, a freeway with an infinite number of lanes. All leading from the past into the future. However not the same future.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/12 "2012-12-21T16:43:49Z")
Never try to Xerox a mirror. You’ll go back in time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/13 "2012-12-21T16:55:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Isn’t what he saying just wrong though? I mean if I read this on the wiki correctly > > [Planck units - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_time) > > There actually is a smallest unit of time that has any meaning in a real sense. Pretty much everything you read about the Planck scales is just educated guesswork. Spacetime _might_ be quantized, but nobody’s really sure about that. If it is, there _might_ be a smallest possibly quantity of time, but there are other ways it might be quantized, too. If there is a smallest possible quantity of time, then our best guess as to how big it is is the Planck scale, a set of units that falls out of mashing some fundamental physical constants together in the right way. But even if there is some smallest unit of spacetime, nobody would be in the least surprised if it turned out to be pi times the Planck scale, or the Planck scale divided by the square root of two, or something along those lines, and frankly, we wouldn’t be all that surprised if it turned out to be completely unrelated to the Planck scale, either. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/14 "2012-12-22T05:33:15Z")
When I was a lad, my father was fond of telling this story: > [@](#): > > One dark stormy night, three brigands were sitting around their cottage fire. One stood up and said: “Antonio, tell us a tale!” > > Antonio rose, and started as follows: > > > [@](#): > > > > One dark stormy night, three brigands were sitting around their cottage fire. One stood up and said: “Antonio, tell us a tale!” > > > > Antonio rose, and started as follows: > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > One dark stormy night, three brigands were sitting around their cottage fire. One stood up and said: “Antonio, tell us a tale!” > > > > > > Antonio rose, and started as follows: > > > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > > > One dark stormy night, three brigands were sitting around their cottage fire. One stood up and said: “Antonio, tell us a tale!” > > > > > > > > Antonio rose, and started as follows: > > > > > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > > > > > One dark stormy night, three brigands were sitting around their cottage fire. One stood up and said: “Antonio, tell us a tale!” > > > > > > > > > > Antonio rose, and started as follows: > > > > > [Well, you get the idea.] ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/15 "2012-12-22T07:14:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > How’d he \*\*\*do \*\*\*that? Easily. All he had to do was type nested quote blocks by hand, which works even though the quote button doesn’t automatically do it for us anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/16 "2012-12-22T11:10:32Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Easily. All he had to do was type nested quote blocks by hand, which works even though the quote button doesn’t automatically do it for us anymore. It’s actually even easier than that. You type it just _once_, from the opening [noparse] > [@](#): > > to the final [/noparse]. Then, copy the whole quote block to the clipboard. Then, just paste the multiple nested copies. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/17 "2012-12-22T11:24:06Z")
Like this: There are two kinds of people, those who say there is no such thing as infinite recursion, and those who say > [@](#): > > There are two kinds of people, those who say there is no such thing as infinite recursion, and those who say > > > [@](#): > > > > There are two kinds of people, those who say there is no such thing as infinite recursion, and those who say > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > There are two kinds of people, those who say there is no such thing as infinite recursion, and those who say > > > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > > > There are two kinds of people, those who say there is no such thing as infinite recursion, and those who say > > > > > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > > > > > There are two kinds of people, those who say there is no such thing as infinite recursion, and those who say > > > > > > > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > > > > > > > There are two kinds of people, those who say there is no such thing as infinite recursion, and those who say > > > > > > > > > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > > > > > > > > > … ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/18 "2012-12-22T14:07:48Z")
Since when is the time cube a wacky theory? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/19 "2012-12-24T06:40:41Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Since when is the time cube a wacky theory? No, you’re right, [Seems legit](http://www.timecube.com/). (But seriously, I’ve never heard Time Cube referred to as anything OTHER than wacky). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712/20 "2012-12-24T06:51:08Z")
I’ve known this since my first Thai stick. We all did, in fact. Then with a start we went onto other dubious thoughts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infinite-regression/644712.md?page=2)