The Difference between Infinity and Eternity - a Nobel Laureate gets on with class

Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. the next day he taught class as if nothing had happened. . . .

"Mr. Vargas Llosa twisted around in his front-row seat to face the class. Can anyone, he asked, explain the difference between infinity and eternity?

Several students tried, but Mr. Vargas Llosa was not satisfied.

“But what’s the difference?” he said. “Who can explain the difference to me? It’s not clear to me.”

After other students suggested definitions and references to Borges stories, Marc Lanthemann spoke up.

“Infinity is an absolute, whereas eternity is a temporal relation,” Mr. Lanthemann said. “Infinity is a general property of having no bounds, whereas eternity is a property of time.”

Mr. Vargas Llosa paused and smiled. “I’m not that convinced,” he said, drawing laughs."

Read more at The New York Times.