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Is this stupidity masquerading as genius or does the logic check out?

853 views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  ENFPathetic 
#1 ·
#2 ·
It's just a thought experiment that the math dude came up with to show people how they can't actually comprehend infinity. The math seems to check out, even though no one can actually calculate it. (The godhood of math vs. the mortality of science) It's pretty simple. I don't agree with the night manager moving everyone to new rooms because that's really bad hospitality, but you have to because you can't tack on an infinite number to the "end" of another infinite number. Because there's no end.

We still can't comprehend infinity because to be able to do the math, you have to take each separate infinity as its own unit. In reality (if you could even say infinity is real) it would all blend together at some point in forever. He wouldn't have to add people into the hotel because they would already be accounted for. You don't need to add if you already have it all. The hotel manager wouldn't have anymore guests, and the hotel couldn't be full.

I think math dude proved his point, but it doesn't mean we have to like it. I at least like the little joke the presenter made about the guests in the π infinity rooms expecting dessert.

Question: Which is a worse representation of a number? 0 or ∞? 0 represents nothing, but it is something. ∞ represents forever, but it is just one character and therefore ends. The numbers 3, 7600, and 1.5 can at least be things... Choose your fighter!
 
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#3 ·
It's just a thought experiment that the math dude came up with to show people how they can't actually comprehend infinity. The math seems to check out, even though no one can actually calculate it. (The godhood of math vs. the mortality of science) It's pretty simple. I don't agree with the night manager moving everyone to new rooms because that's really bad hospitality, but you have to because you can't tack on an infinite number to the "end" of another infinite number. Because there's no end.

We still can't comprehend infinity because to be able to do the math, you have to take each separate infinity as its own unit. In reality (if you could even say infinity is real) it would all blend together at some point in forever. He wouldn't have to add people into the hotel because they would already be accounted for. You don't need to add if you already have it all. The hotel manager wouldn't have anymore guests, and the hotel couldn't be full.

I think math dude proved his point, but it doesn't mean we have to like it. I at least like the little joke the presenter made about the guests in the π infinity rooms expecting dessert.

Question: Which is a worse representation of a number? 0 or ∞? 0 represents nothing, but it is something. ∞ represents forever, but it is just one character and therefore ends. The numbers 3, 7600, and 1.5 can at least be things... Choose your fighter!
It appears fundamentally flawed though. Five infinitely long buses each carrying an infinite number of passengers are no greater than a single infinitely long bus carrying an infinite number of passengers. Adding to infinity is like taking away from 0. It changes nothing. Infinity to the power 10 is still just infinity.

Every time a new guest shows up, the hotel will be able to accommodate the guest despite being already "full", and there will be no need for anyone to move rooms. This is because you cannot add to infinity. The new guest checking in hasn't actually increased the number of guests. The only reason we would assume so is because we live in a finite world and are accustomed to using finite logic. Infinity lives outside the confines of finite logic.

The way I think it would actually work is more like this. The hotel would always have room, and there would always be someone to fill that room.

I found the video entertaining. It was a lot of fun. It's the next day and it still has me thinking about it. The logic just doesn't check out for me. If I had to guess, I would say the narrator's reasoning fell prey to it's comfort zone when he created finite spaces within the infinite space. Namely the numbered rooms. I think this is when he fell into the trap of using finite logic. Or maybe he's using finite logic to explain infinity on purpose because he thinks people are too dumb to grasp the concept of infinity. I don't know. It's entertaining for sure, but I think it's also misleading.
 
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