Re: Supertask, superchicken, paradox
- From: "Hero" <Hero.van.Jindelt@xxxxxx>
- Date: 22 Aug 2005 13:19:19 -0700
david petry wrote:
> In a recent thread, people were discussing "supertasks", and I
> haven't completely caught on to what's going on.
>
> Consider the following supertask.
> So from this, we might say that in the limit as n goes to infinity,
> there is an egg in the nest.
>
> However, the supertask experts seem to be saying that the
> right way to think about the supertask is to number the eggs
> 1,2,3 ... oo, and then to argue that for all n, egg_n has been
> removed from the nest, and hence in the limit as n goes to
> infinity, the nest is empty.
>
> So in the limit, is there one egg in the nest, or no eggs?
What is the meaning of " n goes to infinity "? In- finit means : No
end. So how one defines a limit, which is a border, an end, to
something, which has no end ?
In 1/2+1/4+1/8+... the limit is not part of 1/2, 3/4, 7/8,...
(there is no greatest natural, so 1/n never reaches zero).
Here one can define the limit of this series as 1. But Your chicken has
to carry on, never stopping, and as long as You can not tell me, how it
"reaches infinity", how could we answer Your question.
Hero
.
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- Supertask, superchicken, paradox
- From: david petry
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