Re: virus: Real World?

David McFadzean (david@lucifer.com)
Sat, 4 Jan 1997 15:23:52 -0700


> From: jonesr@gatwick.geco-prakla.slb.com
> Date: Tuesday, December 31, 1996 2:59 AM

> Here's a little theory that one of my friends invented whilst extremely
drunk:
>
> If the probability of any event occurring at any time and at any point in
> space is 1/oo (where oo = infinity), and given that time is /probably/
infinite,
> irrespective of the state of the universe, then there are an infinite
number of
> instances at which an event can occur. Hence, the probability of any
event
> happening in the Universe, or one before it, or one after it, is denoted
as:
> 1/oo * oo = 1/1 Therefore, the event must occur.

You're friend must have been extremely drunk. By the same reasoning, if
I flip a coin twice the chances of getting tails is 100% (1/2 * 2 = 1/1).
Besides, doing arithmetic with infinities is risky business; you have to
be sure they are of the same order (aleph null, etc.) and some operations
(like addition) don't make sense (oo + 1 = oo).

--
David McFadzean                 david@lucifer.com
Memetic Engineer                http://www.lucifer.com/~david/
Church of Virus                 http://www.lucifer.com/virus/