Take a Trip to a Little Place Called Infinity

"To infinity and beyond!" -- Buzz Lightyear

Do you think Buzz ever wondered what he might find beyond infinity? Is that even possible?

Before he sets off on that journey, he might want to watch "A Trip to Infinity," a new documentary available on Netflix. It's trippy in every sense of the word.

In a nutshell, it gathers some of the top names in the fields of physics, philosophy and math to ponder "the problem of infinity." To try and make sense of something that has no beginning and no end. And is such a thing actually possible in the real world?

If you decide to take this mind-blowing, or mind-numbing, trip down the rabbit hole, you'll definitely want to fasten your mental seat belt.

Full disclosure: Math has never been my strong suit. I got by algebra, did OK with elementary analysis and even become pretty proficient with a slide rule. But the math world these brainiacs inhabit is one place I'll never visit. Still, the subject is presented in layman-friendly language, and makes liberal use of cartoons and graphics to drive their points home.

We learn infinity is unimaginably big, and likewise, unimaginably small, as you would expect in something that goes on forever. And is there a "forever"? Scientists tell us our universe has a beginning -- almost 14 billion years ago -- and at some point, will end, billions of years in the future. But does "space" go on without an end? Or is there a wall where it all stops? And if there is, what's beyond the wall?

Sadly, the documentary provides no answers -- because there aren't any. At least, not for our puny human brains. The experts conclude the questions that infinity raises have unknowable answers.  Sort of like another Netflix series, "Unsolved Mysteries."

I think I'll let the child version of Woody Allen have the last word, from "Annie Hall":