" Thomson's Lamp Is Dysfunctional

James Thomson envisaged a lamp which would be turned on for 1 minute, off for 1/2 minute, on for 1/4 minute, etc. ad infinitum. He asked whether the lamp would be on or off at the end of 2 minutes. Use of “internal set theory” (a version of nonstandard analysis), developed by Edward Nelson, shows Thomson’s lamp is chimerical; its copy within set theory yields a contradiction. The demonstration extends to placing restrictions on other “infinite tasks”: Zeno’s paradoxes of motion; Kant’s First Antinomy; and Malament-Hogarth spacetimes in General Relativity. Critique of infinite tasks yields an analysis of motion and space & time; at some scale, motion would appear staccato and the latter pair would appear granular. The critique also shows necessary existence of some degree of “physical law”. The suitability of internal set theory for analyzing phenomena is examined, using a paper by Alper & Bridger (1 997) to frame the discussion. Dr. William 1. McLaughlin 301-170s Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena CA 91109