this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

What about a time loop where only one person dies, but infinite times?

[–] answersplease77@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Actually... this means there are infinite people so:

Let X be the number of people killed = (-infinity)

As infity is defined :

infinity + X = infinity

infinity + (-infinity) =

infinity - infinity = infinty

So no people would have died black guy pointing at his head meme

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 days ago

Desnt work when they're different classes of infinity.

[–] CommissarVulpin@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Okay, so what’s the point of “proving” that there some “infinities” are “bigger” than others? What’s the practical application here? Because an infinite hotel with an infinite number of guests is physically impossible, so I don’t see the point.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 4 points 3 days ago

Practical application in math tends to be like three degrees of separation and half a century removed from the math at play. In this case, all of modern mathematics is based on set theory, so it's more that this stuff allows us to do other, more practically useful math while knowing what we're talking about.

[–] MBM@lemmings.world 1 points 2 days ago

I've never been a fan of just saying "some infinities are bigger than others," to be honest. Way too easy to misunderstand and it's also kind of meaningless by itself.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The real numbers also includes the integers.

The practical consequence of this example is that the integers die regardless of what you choose.

However infinitely many people will survive if you choose the first option.

[–] CommissarVulpin@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And yet there can never, and will never, be a situation where an infinite number of people are tied to a railroad track. So this thought experiment is meaningless.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It's more about set theory than the actual numbers.

Let's say you have 100 people with everyone tied up across both tracks. Heads on one track and legs on the other. Let's assume they die if the train touches any part of them, but you still need to choose between running over heads or legs.

The best choice is then legs, because there's a probability of some of them being handicapped and not having legs.

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[–] p3n@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I do what I always do: run to the trolley, then jump up and pull the emergency stop because I hate false dilemmas.

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[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

It'll make it through maybe 3 infinities before derailing. Go bottom, end it faster.

[–] AkatsukiLevi@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hold the lever halfway so the trolley picks both rails at the same time, to ensure highest possible kill comboq

[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That's effectively just the bottom track, where an uncountable number of people (literally) will die as soon as the train reaches position (0.

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[–] PhAzE@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

Geez, disconnect the trains so you can hit both lines at the same time, obviously.

[–] zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

I take the square root of all the negative real numbers and kill in an entirely new dimension.

[–] wildncrazyguy138@fedia.io 2 points 3 days ago

Like everything else in this holographic universe we live in, I’d just close my eyes and believe the bodies I’m trampling are imaginary.

[–] TomMasz@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago

I remember seeing a science show on PBS where the presenter explained how there are different infinities by using set theory and the integers/reals. That was mind-blowing at the time.

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

I reject the premise since there will only ever exist a finite number of people. They will all die. One day the last human will die.

[–] OddMinus1@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

Can I group the people into groups of 1, then 2, then 3 and so forth? When the trolley is done with the killing, it will have killed -1/12 people.

[–] bizarroland@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I would pull the lever and then steal a bus and knock the trolley off of the track, killing the least amount of people possible.

sort them so you kill one person first, then 2, then 3, then 4...

[–] halvar@lemy.lol 1 points 3 days ago

there are more real numbers than integers though

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