What Can We Gain by Losing Infinity?

Most mathematicians take the notion of infinity for granted — it’s deeply rooted in math’s most fundamental assumptions. But a small group of researchers hopes to banish infinity completely. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with math editor Jordana Cepelewicz about the philosophy of ultrafinitism. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math. Audio coda music & lyrics by Michael Tilson Thomas . Vocals performed by Ben Jones. Piano performed by John Wilson.

You can listen to What Can We Gain by Losing Infinity? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

What Can We Gain by Losing Infinity? is an episode from Quanta Science Podcast by Quanta Magazine.

This episode is 30:15 long.

This episode was published on May 5, 2026.

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