Infinite

infant mortality = I = infinite loop

infinite adj.

[common] Consisting of a large number of objects; extreme. Used very loosely as in: "This program produces infinite garbage." "He is an infinite loser." The word most likely to follow `infinite', though, is hair. (It has been pointed out that fractals are an excellent example of infinite hair.) These uses are abuses of the word's mathematical meaning. The term `semi-infinite', denoting an immoderately large amount of some resource, is also heard. "This compiler is taking a semi-infinite amount of time to optimize my program." See also semi.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

Infinite is the real first album from Eminem, from the days before he made it big. This was made before the rapper hooked up with Dr. Dre, and production is very simple and in places distinctly old school. Released by Web Entertainment, they hoped that his local reputation would be enough to carry sales of the album - sadly, it was not. However, Eminem picked himself up after its release, and continued to win MC contests and improve his rap skills.

Listening to the album, it is clear that Eminem remains proud of some of his finer lyrical moments from those days. So much so, many lines are reused in his more widely-known albums. This may seem cheap, but I see it more as a way for him to bring the highlights of his early work to a wider audience. For example, the line, "I never gave a fuck, now I give a fuck less," is familiar from The Marshall Mathers LP.

The track listing is as follows:

1. Infinite
2. W.E.G.O. (Interlude)
3. It's OK
4. 313
5. Tonight
6. Maxine
7. Open Mic
8. Never 2 Far
9. Searchin'
10. Backstabber
11. Jealousy Woes II

This is brief for a rap album, typical of an artist just learning the tricks of turning sublime MC skills into high-quality vinyl. It is suprisingly difficult to get hold of those tricks via Morpheus et al, which is disappointing because the album has some very fine moments.

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The album includes a self-titled track, the lyrics of which are provided below:

Oh yeah,
This is Eminem baby,
Back up in that motherfucking ass,
One time for your motherfucking mind,
We represent the 313.
You know what I'm saying?
'Cause they don't know shit about this.
For the 9-6

Ayo, my pen and paper cause a chain reaction
To get your brain relaxin',
A zany actin' maniac in action,
A brainiac in fact son,
You mainly lack attraction.
You look insanely wack when
Just a fraction of my tracks run.
My rhyming skills got you climbing hills,
I travel through your mind,
Into your spine,
Like siren drills.
I'm sliming grills of roaches, with spray that disinfects
And twisting necks of rappers 'til their spinal column disconnects.
Put this in decks and check the monologue,
Turn your system up,
Twist 'em up, and indulge in the marijuana smog.
This is the season for noise pollution contamination.
Examination of more cartoons than animation
My lamination of narration
Hits the snare and bass in a track for duck rapper interrogation.
When I declare invasion,
There ain't no time to be staring, gazing
I turn the stage into a barren wasteland...
I'm Infinite

Chorus
You heard of Hell?
Well I was sent from it,
I went to it servin' a sentence for murdering instruments.
Now I'm trying to repent from it,
But when I hear the beat I'm tempted to make another attempt at it...
I'm Infinite

Scratching

Bust it, I let the beat commence
So I can beat the sense
In your elite defense.
I got some meat to mince,
A crew to stomp,
And then two feet to rinse.
I greet the gents and ladies,
I spoil loyal fans,
I foil plans,
And leave fluids leaking like oil bands.
My coiled hands around this microphone are lethal
One thought in my cerebral is deeper
Than a Jeep full of people.
MCs are feeble, I came to cause some pandemonium.
Battle a band of phony MCs
And stand a lonely one.
Imitator, Intimidator, Stimulator, Simulator of data, Eliminator.
There's never been a greater since the burial of Jesus,
Fuck around and catch all the venereal diseases.
My thesis will smash a stereo to pieces.
My a cappella releases,
Classic masterpieces
Through telekinesis.
That eases you mentally,
gently,
sentimentally,
instrumentally.
With entity,
dementedly
meant to be Infinite.

Chorus

Man, I got evidence
I'm never dense
And I been clever ever since
My residence was hesitant
To do some shit that represents the M-O.
So I'm assuming all responsibility
Cause there's a monster will in me,
That always wants to kill MCs.
Mic nestler, slamming like a wrestler.
Here to make a mess of a lyric smuggling embezzler.
No one is specialer,
My skill is intergalactical.
I get cynical, act a fool,
Then I send a crew back to school.
I never packed a tool or acted cool,
It wasn't practical.
I'd rather lead a tactical, tactful track,
Tickle your fancy.
In fact I can't see, or can't imagine,
A man who ain't a lover of beats or a fan of scratching.
So this is for my family, the kid who had a cammy on my last jam.
Plus the man who never had a Plan B,
Be all you can be,
Cause once you make an instant hit,
I'm tensed a bit and tempted when I see the sins my friends commit...
I'm Infinite

Chorus x2

In mathematics there are two non-equivalent definitions of when something is infinite, though the inventor of the second definition probably thought they were equivalent. The first definition is that a set is infinite if it is not finite, and a finite set is one that is the same size as one of the natural numbers 0, 1, 2, ... In set theory the natural numbers are formalized as finite ordinals, that is a kind of ordered set, where any n = {0, 1, ..., n−1}. If there is a bijection between this and a set S, then S is finite (and of size n), else it is called infinite.

In these terms, infiniteness is a purely negative property: there exists no mapping of such-and-such a nature. But infinite sets can be investigated, and hierarchies of ordinals and cardinals of various infinite sizes can be found. The term 'transfinite' means essentially the same as 'infinite', but with a positive sense that bijections can be found between the infinite set and some well-defined transfinite size.

The existence of infinite sets does not follow from the axioms of set theory used to construct finite sets: it requires a special Axiom of Infinity to assert explicitly that a certain infinite set (the set of the natural numbers) exists.

The nineteenth-century mathematician Richard Dedekind formulated a different definition of the infinite: a set is said to be infinite if there is a bijection from itself to a proper subset of itself. An infinite set is the same size as something smaller than itself, just as there are the same number of even numbers as natural numbers, or numbers in {2, 3, 4, ...}. This is the basis for the Hilbert Hotel metaphor.

These two definitions are equivalent for a set S if the set can be well-ordered, that is (roughly) arranged so that it begins at one end and goes onwards, the way {0, 1, 2, ...} does. If S is infinite, map each finite n-th element to the (n+1)-th, and thus construct a bijection from S to itself without its 0-th element.

So if all sets are well-orderable, 'infinite' and what is now called 'Dedekind infinite' are equivalent. However, this condition is the Well Ordering Theorem, and is equivalent to the Axiom of Choice, so doesn't follow from plain ZF axioms.

Non-mathematicians get all het up about 'infinity', as if it should be a strange kind of thing you could see or a place you could get to. (And all the writeups are over there.) But mathematicians don't use 'infinity' that way. There are sets that are infinite: it's a property of the set. Some of these sets can be used as sizes by which to measure other sets, so are in effect something like numbers. But the infiniteness is still a property. There's no one final or unique infinity that can be defined as any kind of mathematical thing.

Talk of infinite things is common; technical talk of 'infinity' is not, except in one usage: the limit as a variable goes to infinity. This means as it goes on forever, as it keeps going without stopping. It does not mean that it goes until it gets to a kind of place called infinity, then stops there. The whole point of the infinite is that you don't stop. You don't ever get to anything that can be labelled with the noun 'infinity'.

About the one exception to this is in the construction of a Riemann sphere, where a point is added to the complex plane, which is then wrapped round and joined to it. This point is labelled infinity, and does roughly correspond to the intuitive notion of being a thing at an infinite distance—except that, unintuitively, it's at that distance in whichever direction you go.

In"fi*nite (?), a. [L. infinitus: cf. F. infini. See In- not, and Finite.]

1.

Unlimited or boundless, in time or space; as, infinite duration or distance.

Whatever is finite, as finite, will admit of no comparative relation with infinity; for whatever is less than infinite is still infinitely distant from infinity; and lower than infinite distance the lowest or least can not sink. H. Brooke.

2.

Without limit in power, capacity, knowledge, or excellence; boundless; immeasurably or inconceivably great; perfect; as, the infinite wisdom and goodness of God; -- opposed to finite.

Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite. Ps. cxlvii. 5.

O God, how infinite thou art! I. Watts.

3.

Indefinitely large or extensive; great; vast; immense; gigantic; prodigious.

Infinite riches in a little room. Marlowe.

Which infinite calamity shall cause To human life. Milton.

4. Math.

Greater than any assignable quantity of the same kind; -- said of certain quantities.

5. Mus.

Capable of endless repetition; -- said of certain forms of the canon, called also perpetual fugues, so constructed that their ends lead to their beginnings, and the performance may be incessantly repeated.

Moore (Encyc. of Music).

Syn. -- Boundless; immeasurable; illimitable; interminable; limitless; unlimited; endless; eternal.

 

© Webster 1913.

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In"fi*nite, n.

1.

That which is infinite; boundless space or duration; infinity; boundlessness.

Not till the weight is heaved from off the air, and the thunders roll down the horizon, will the serene light of God flow upon us, and the blue infinite embrace us again. J. Martineau.

2. Math.

An infinite quantity or magnitude.

3.

An infinity; an incalculable or very great number.

Glittering chains, embroidered richly o'er With infinite of pearls and finest gold. Fanshawe.

4.

The Infinite Being; God; the Almighty.

 

© Webster 1913.