If records are constantly getting faster and faster, wouldnt there eventualy have to be a fastest time that no one could beat? I mean even if someday some one could run the mile in .01 seconds, how could you beat that? Will there ever be an unbeatable record?
I suspect that the progression will be asymptotic: You might see the mile go to 3:50, and then to 3:49, and then 3:48.5, 3:48.2, 3:48.15, 3:48.13, etc., with the record often being broken, but nobody doing better than 3:48.
These numbers are, of course, purely made up. I don’t know what the current record is for the mile, much less the ultimate limit.
It’s presently 3:43.13 by Hicham El Gerrouj set back in July of 1999 in Rome. The previous record was 3:44.39 and was set in 1993.
Someone could then run the mile in .001 seconds followed by another who could do it in .0001 seconds and so on.
I just looked up asymptotic and I guess this is what Chronos was saying.
Just so we all know, that’s like Mach 486. I’m pretty sure your skin would melt at that point.
I remember having this discussion with a bunch of jugglers. We were wondering what the human limitation on “numbers” juggling would be.
Here’s an article that addresses this very question. It explains why nobody is ever going to be able to juggle 100 balls: