johnny9fingers: (Default)
johnny9fingers ([personal profile] johnny9fingers) wrote2009-09-28 12:21 pm

(no subject)

For some reason or other, this discussion made a middle-aged man slightly happy:

http://community.livejournal.com/philosophy/1898307.html

Even more so because I neither initiated it, nor have had any hand in't as the debate has progressed. Small glee, in petto, if that's the phrase; which suits my small compass and narrow horizons.

[identity profile] vlion.livejournal.com 2009-09-28 01:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahhh, the cardinality of infinities. It's a classic "blow the young comp sci undergraduate mind" thought.

It typically goes like so...

Older guy(senior in cs/math, grad student): "So did you know that there are different sizes of infinity"?

Freshman(thinks he's God's gift to the world): "Bull...you're having me on".

O: "Ha. No. Look, suppose you have the rationals. Now notice that there's sqrt(2), which has been proved to not be rational. cardinality(rationals) + sqrt(2) > cardinality(rationals)".

F: "..."

F: "......"

O: "I don't need recreational drugs, thank you very much. Ta!

F: "...woooaah"