• Nemo Wuming
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    532 years ago

    Someone actually was once offered the opportunity to ask such a question. Here is the question that was asked:

    • What is the content of the pair in which the first half is the best question I can ask, and the second half is the answer to that question?

    Here is the answer received:

    • The best question you can ask is the question you just asked, and the answer to that question is the one you are receiving now.
    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      Considering the asker didn’t get any benefit out of the answer to that question, this is definetly not “the best question” he could ask. So your proposed answer to this question is wrong. The question itself though, is the best one I’ve heard so far.

    • @[email protected]
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      282 years ago

      If you want to game the system, the best way to do it would be to ask something that has a ridiculously long answer so you can get the most information possible out of it. For example you could ask, “what are the full contents of the largest, most useful collection of knowledge humanity will ever have, condensed down small enough for us to process?” That’d probably get you a futuristic multi-petabyte hard drive that can still plug into your computer and has a version of Wikipedia from like 10,000 years in the future.

        • @[email protected]
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          52 years ago

          Yeah. A lower limit was never set in the wording of the question, so the answer would likely be “Perpetuate your species as long as possible”

          • @[email protected]
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            22 years ago

            How is perpetuating the species useful? It serves no real purpose and doesn’t really help people much. True utility comes from the mitigation of suffering.

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      You could easily modify that question to qualify “best” in a more useful way.

      “most beneficial for my well being”

      “most beneficial for humanity’s long term well being”

      “maximally beneficial to human progress”

      “maximally conducive to bring about the total destruction of reality by the Old Ones”

      “best way to a smoothie”

      Etc.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 years ago

      Because in the manual those are explicitly described as just light testers to make sure the bulbs are working. That’s why they blink too.

      You don’t use them for any other purpose.

      The power of German engineering.

    • Altima NEO
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      52 years ago

      Honestly it’s spreading to pickup truck drivers too

    • JokeDeity
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      92 years ago

      Years of porn mostly. The fucked up thing is when you do it and you find out it doesn’t taste bad and you really have to have a good long hard think about your life.

      • Lemdee
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        72 years ago

        you really have to have a good long hard think about your life.

        Or, just enjoy the booty. I know I do.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        Technically correct too. There’s research around how arousal severely muted our disgust response.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        We already do it in rodents, there are animals that already do it by themselves making them virtually immortal.

        Why are you so scared of living?

          • @[email protected]
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            22 years ago

            It’s maybe the coolest thing there is, I mean we could travel the universe if we didn’t go bad after just some decades of time.

            • @[email protected]
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              12 years ago

              If we had enough energy we could also do that in our lifetime (because time passes slower when closer to the speed of light)…

              • @[email protected]
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                12 years ago

                If you can accelerate our frail bodies up to those speeds fast enough :-)

                I’m betting on longevity 😁

                • @[email protected]
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                  12 years ago

                  The thing with longetivity is you’d probably start getting mad or depressed or bored after some time. Also, the population would exponentially grow and lastly, it is rather difficult to get poeple that were born 500 years ago to agree with people that were born 20 years ago. It would probably result in a political chaos.

  • @[email protected]
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    82 years ago

    I’d resolve one of those mathematical conjectures that have bounty on them. The proof would simply be that the answer to my question was quaranteed to be true due to the OP’s implication.

  • @[email protected]
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    472 years ago

    What is the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything? Just so I can check Douglas Adams’ work. There’s just no other way.

  • Bernie Ecclestoned
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    2 years ago

    What’s the optimal engineering solution for fusion energy.

    To consign combustion to the past.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      Why limit to fusion? Ask for the optimal energy production solution, period. Might be something we never thought of.

        • @[email protected]
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          12 years ago

          Yeah, a Dyson sphere is arguably pretty optimal (or one of the even more outlandish interstellar level theoretical solutions). Why deal with fuel when stars are already there? There’s even a classification system for how advanced a species is, which measures efficiency of energy consumption. In that, harnessing the power of a single star is a type 2 civilization (humans are generally considered on the scale of type 0.7).

          But yeah, knowing that maybe it’s theoretically possible does nothing to help us actually make such a thing. Even if we were to also be told exactly what materials it would take and an exact blueprint of what to do, the scale of construction is pretty much beyond current human levels.

        • @[email protected]
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          2 years ago

          What’s the most efficient design for an energy generation device that fits in an area smaller than 1 cubic mile, uses materials found on Earth or nearby planets/passing comets, and if it outputs particle, waves, or any combination thereof that destroy the atmosphere or DNA/life, contains the destroyers?

          But if we’re dealing with a demon or a genie or aliens, we won’t like the answer. Fuckin’ tricksters.

          • @[email protected]
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            72 years ago

            Gather solar energy over millions of years and accumulate it as a thick liquid. Then, to unlock the energy, simply burn that liquid. Or process it into other forms and burn that.

    • VindictiveJudge
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      32 years ago

      “Definition: ‘Love’ is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometres away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope. […] [L]ove is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticle, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds.”

  • @[email protected]
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    1022 years ago

    what are the exact numbers for the next Powerball drawing, in winning order?

    …don’t fuck with me, genie, I got problems.

    • unalivejoy
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      22 years ago

      You’ll get the right answer, but all bets are closed.

      • @[email protected]
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        232 years ago

        That TECHNICALLY doesnt answer the question because he didnt ask what you know, he asked what the next numbers are.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      The number is the same as that of a Chinese fortune cookie lotto number. 50 people win an and split a 5 million dollar jackpot, yourself included.

      You get about $70k.

      • Clegko
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        232 years ago

        Shit man, I’d be happy with a 7k jackpot tbh. 70k would be hella worth it.

        • @[email protected]
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          22 years ago

          Ask for the lottery numbers instead, that would igve you like a million, sounds better to me…

          Still I wonder if thats really worth it, probably not. You could have ANY question answered and you chose to get a couple lf dollars richer instead?

          At least ask for one of ghe millinium questions, that way you at least find out somethinf useful while at the same time getting the multu-million dollar prize money