Draconarius's Shortform

post by Draconarius · 2020-05-29T21:22:59.542Z · LW · GW · 9 comments

9 comments

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comment by Draconarius · 2020-05-29T21:22:59.850Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Hilbert’s Motel improvement

This hotel is 2 star at best, imagine having to pack up your stuff every time the hotel receives a new guest? I’ve decided to fix that. The hotel still has infinite rooms and guests but this time every other room is unoccupied which prepares the hotel for an infinite amount of new visitors without inconveniencing the current residence.

Replies from: ariel-kwiatkowski, Pattern
comment by Ariel Kwiatkowski (ariel-kwiatkowski) · 2020-05-30T20:02:40.379Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

But isn't the whole point that the hotel is full initially, and yet can accept more guests?

Replies from: mr-hire
comment by Matt Goldenberg (mr-hire) · 2020-05-30T22:44:12.680Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Yeah, the hotel being always half full no matter how many guests it has doesn't seem as cool.

Replies from: Pattern
comment by Pattern · 2020-06-01T20:11:11.955Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

As soon as one more guest shows up it's more than half full.

comment by Pattern · 2020-05-30T18:47:49.620Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

But if an infinite number of guests show up, then they might have to travel an infinite distance to their hotel room.

Replies from: dxu
comment by dxu · 2020-05-30T20:01:02.374Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

If the number of guests is countable (which is the usual assumption in Hilbert’s setup), then every guest will only have to travel a finite (albeit unboundedly long) distance before they reach their room.

Replies from: Draconarius
comment by Draconarius · 2020-07-19T07:55:07.522Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Yes a very very long distance which I suppose means anyone who is booking in must not be planning on going anywhere else. This hotel could be the final destination, I hope they have a good room service.

comment by Draconarius · 2020-07-19T07:43:50.947Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

What came first the chicken or the egg? 
Answer: The egg of course. And this is proven if you just look at Darwins theory of natural selection, clearly the chickens latest ancestor laid the first chicken eggs. honestly I’m surprise no one else came to this conclusion because I still hear people asking (if not rhetorically) this "philosophical” question.

Replies from: ChristianKl
comment by ChristianKl · 2020-07-19T18:04:39.951Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I’m surprise no one else came to this conclusion because I still hear people asking (if not rhetorically) this "philosophical” question.

This is not the first time I heard this conclusion, so it's not like nobody else came to this conclusion. 

It's also wrong by important definitions of what it means to be an egg like for example EU regulations. By EU regulations an egg is "Egg: eggs in a shell — other than broken, incubated or cooked eggs — that are produced by the hen species Gallus gallus and are fit for human consumption or for the preparation of egg products."

Webster also seems to define an egg by the species that produced it and not by what the egg produces. 

Ontologically, there's no problem with the EU definition where the thing that matters is that the egg is produced by Gallus gallus and not that a specismen of Gallus gallus gets created by the egg. 

There are different conception of what it means to be an egg out there and the philosophic question of which of those conceptions you want to prefer over others is not resolved by pointing to Darwins theory of natural selection.