Tricky Stuff, Infinity
The Black Void - Episode 372
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As we approach the spire, at the same time gaining in height as we soar
towards the impressive building on its peak, I am thinking about the
bookworms. If they eat information, then shouldn't a serious attempt be
made to eradicate them? But if the library is infinitely large, and I'm
coming to accept that it really might be, then I suppose that wiping them
out must be very difficult. If they were eradicated from one area, they
could just reinfect it from another.
Then I wonder if the problem with them is really as serious as James seems to think. If the library is truly infinite, then that ought to mean that, however much information the bookworms destroy, it would only be an infinitesimal fraction of the whole. But perhaps Murphy's Law might apply here like it seems to back home? If so, then the chance of the particular piece of information one was after having been destroyed might be a lot higher than it should be. We enter the temple-like building, terminating my musing, and land. All around us are gigantic filing cabinets. "Er, wouldn't a card catalogue for an infinite library have an infinite number of cards?" I ask. "If so, the catalogue will take up an infinite amount of space. However logically it's structured, how will we ever find the right card?"
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JH (spelling "catalogue" the British way)
12/14/2004 12:55:29 PM
Extending Enabled
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