How Many Things Are There?

TL;DR

The number of thoughts that can be thought or imagined in the universe is much larger than the number of physical things, emphasizing the significance of imagination.

Transcript

Hey, Vsauce. Michael here. If you threw every single human alive today into the Grand Canyon, we would not fill it up. We could make a pile about this big That's it. That's all of us. All 7.159 billion of us in one place. A species portrait. It kinda puts humanity into perspective and you. So does this. Everyday you produce about one to two litres ... Read More

Key Insights

• #️⃣ The number of physical things in the observable universe is estimated to be 10^80, consisting of elementary particles and their arrangements.
• 🛩️ The maximum possible number of smallest measurable things within the observable universe is 10^183.
• 💭 Thoughts and imagination defy limitations, with the number of possible thoughts considered to be infinite.
• 💭 The number of thoughts that could ever be thought or imagined in the observable universe is estimated to be 10^227, surpassing the number of physical things by a vast margin.
• 🖐️ Imagination plays a significant role in defining the vastness and possibilities of the universe.
• ❓ The universe's ultimate fate involves the exhaustion of usable energy and the eventual cessation of any events or occurrences.
• 📠 Hypothetical machines processing at the fastest speed possible could compute a total of 4.624 x 10^110 bits per second using the mass of the observable universe.

Questions & Answers

Q: How many physical things exist in the universe?

The observable universe contains an estimated 10^80 elementary particles, which are the basis for all physical things. Everything else is just different arrangements of these particles.

Q: Could there be smaller particles than what we currently know as elementary particles?

To cover all possibilities, we can consider the maximum possible number of the smallest measurable thing, a Planck volume. 10^183 of these small things could fit within our observable universe.

Q: Are there a finite number of thoughts that can be thought?

Unlike physical things, thoughts are likely infinite. For example, there is no limit to the largest number we can imagine. However, unthought thoughts don't exist until someone thinks about or talks about them.

Q: What happens when the universe runs out of energy?

After a trillion to a hundred trillion years, the supply of gas needed to form new stars will be exhausted, causing the lights to go out gradually. Ultimately, after a Google years, the universe will reach a state of zero usable energy.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The Grand Canyon can hold the entire human population, showing our insignificance in the grand scale of things.

• Spit production in a lifetime will not be enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool.

• The number of Lego parts manufactured and grains of sand on Earth is vast, but how many things are there in total?