A story about Python... sort of

[John J. Lee]

[utterly OT, but couldn't resist replying again]

Erik Max Francis <max at alcyone.com> writes:

> John J Lee wrote:
> 
> > A Google result (appropriately enough, given the origin of
> > the name Google) ...
> 
> But the origin of the name was generated from a misspelling of _googol_
> (the name for 10^100), which evidently was found via Web searches.  So
> the origin of the name of the search engine

Yeah -- I just meant they're both pretty large numbers.


[...]
> infinite spatial extent.  So, presuming we live in a universe that
> follows this models, the true Universe is infinitely large, even though
> we can only see a finite, small part of it.

True, though infinite spatial extent doesn't necessarily mean infinite
computation, of course (though it's true people have claimed both open
and closed universes allow, or require, infinite computation).  I
suppose a lot of this is up for grabs ATM, with the recent discoveries
about the cosmological constant &c.  Still, questions like 'is chess
physically solveable' (in a sense I hope we all grok by this point in
the thread) are questions about physics, which I guess is the real
point I was making to the guy I was replying to.  <irony>Doubtless
he'll put that insight to use in his next Python script.</irony>


[...]
> Since it's an interpretation, though, it's just an intuitive way of
> looking at the situation.  Quantum mechanical interpretations do not
> modify the theory itself; that is, they neither add nor subtract
> anything from the theory which is testable in any way.

I disagree with all of that.  Further discussion taken off-list!


John