westerling: (tiger)
westerling ([personal profile] westerling) wrote2008-06-11 12:20 am

(no subject)

This is full of awesomeness:

http://xkcd.com/435/

[identity profile] westerling.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
So maybe it belongs somewhere else? I definitely agree that CS is based on Math, and furthermore I also think that almost everything else is based on Math. But then, that's also based on the idea that Mathematics is the most accurate way for humans to describe the nature of reality.

CS is based on Math, but it is then applied to a construct created by humans that does have applications in the everyday world, but is still a construct. It's pretty amazing how big of a construct it is, particularly when you consider the internet, and how reliant most of us have become upon it. And would you say it's a fairly consistent construct, too? It seems like it ought to be, but I can't say firsthand.

[identity profile] diego001.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 06:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, it does seem to be a consistent construct. However, one of the results of this construct is that no construct in itself can ever be used to prove the consistency of a given construct. This is what Gödel's theorem proved for just regular arithmetic. As such, there really is no way to truly know whether the construct of computer science - or anything with mathematics for that matter - is really consistent.

[identity profile] westerling.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Which is similar in essence, I believe, to certain considerations in neurology regarding the ability of the brain to study the brain. These are the paths of reasoning that lead some people to start drinking heavily. :)

[identity profile] diego001.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 06:42 pm (UTC)(link)
In-deed. Or smoking marijuana. :P

[identity profile] westerling.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 06:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Or using the Internets heavily.

[identity profile] diego001.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 06:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Or all of the above, combined!

[identity profile] westerling.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Whoa. I never thought of that. brb.

[identity profile] westerling.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Did you ever notice how the internet is, like, the inter-Net? That's so amazing.

[identity profile] westerling.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, this thread has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. :)

[identity profile] diego001.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Isn't that how life is, though?

[identity profile] westerling.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 07:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Mine certainly is. And back again.

[identity profile] diego001.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
From the sublime to the ridiculous again. Yay!

[identity profile] diego001.livejournal.com 2008-06-12 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
And there again and back again.

(Anonymous) 2008-06-13 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
And back again and there again.

[identity profile] westerling.livejournal.com 2008-06-13 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
Argh, LJ logged me out and I didn't notice. Gr.

[identity profile] bezeldesign.livejournal.com 2008-06-13 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
Isn't "There and back again" the subtitle of The Hobbit? (The Road goes ever on and on...)

[identity profile] westerling.livejournal.com 2008-06-13 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
Indeed it is. :)