Infinities provide a theoretical position to model something. People forget physics describes a model of reality, not actual reality. So long as you are describing a model and not reality, that's fine. Which is why your assessment is accurate. But anyone attempting to declare infinity is a property of reality is wrong. Infinity isn't a property of reality (we have no evidence to support a contrary position and everything implies finite measurements).
For example, infinity of e=mc2, but we already know it's broken at the cosmological scale. But they keep piling on and pretending otherwise.
Starting in the 1920s (especially with Einstein), the world of physics took a terribly wrong turn.
You're exactly right that people confuse the model with reality. And it's not just the laypeople who do it. The vast majority of scientists do it as well. Because what they understand of reality they learned from the model, to them the two are one and the same.
And it's not just the laypeople who do it.
Yep. Have had discussions with a physicist who thought I was speaking tongues when I stated this. He literally thought the universe is based off of his math. He didn't understand the math describes an approximation of reality. Sometimes highly precisely so, but an approximate description of it nonetheless.
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