Monday, November 5, 2007

Not So Obvious To Me

I must refer you to this article which must be read if mine is to make any sense: Something that's supposed to be obvious but isn't to me. I'm just not ready for the mensa club, I guess. Grunt. Swear. Fart.

I haven't read any replies yet, only the first post, and I have to declare I need another piece of information. What is the agency that promises that 3^^^3 people and dust specks will be available, and what are their intentions beyond what is stated? Don't get me wrong, I don't want the poor luckless bastard to be tortured, but I see the potential for some pretty serious consequences with the other idea.

I'm no matematician, but it seemed to me, when I was reading about what 3^^^3 is, I thought it got bigger than the number of atoms in the universe. So, here are the possibilities I see:

1) 3^^^3 (less the existing human population, presumably) new people are created, along with with enough additional enviroment (fertile planets) to support them, spaced widely enough not to cause the early gravitational collapse of the universe. They, and all pre-existing humans, get a speck of dust in their eye. This seems pretty easy to get along with, as long as the new people aren't murderous bastards with spaceships or anything nasty like that. Almost 3^^^3 new people get to be alive. Cool. The guy who got the short stick has nothing to worry about if I'm making that call.

2) 3^^^3 new people are created without regard for life-support. Everyone gets a speck of dust in their eye, adding insult to injury for the almost-immediately-dead new people. The Earth and it's population are unaffected but for everyone getting dust in their eye. The rest of the universe is full of corpses as far as the telescope can see. Well, it might take the charm out of stargazing, but I still don't think I could torture a guy for 50 years over it.

3) 3^^^3 new people and dust specks are created. No guarantee the Earth continues to be livable. I'm afraid this is where our friend's luck runs out. Someone should tell him not to put a lot of money on blackjack, not that that's his biggest problem. 3^^^3 times the atomic mass of a speck of dust is enough to obliterate our galaxy through black hole formation, even if only a fraction of it comes here. Never mind adding the mass of the people to it. Sorry about our friend, I'm afraid. I wish we could just kill him, but the rule was he had to do his 50.

So that was the best I could do. Now I will read the responses.

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