How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?
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.
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.
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.
The monkey’s finger curls down as a lossy algorithm is applied.
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”
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.
Yeah, but you can’t prosper if you don’t exist.
You can’t suffer or experience the deprivation of prosperity either.
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.
What is the opposite of false?
U will answer me and give me the correct answer, right?
What if he they say “No” :o
So I ask, when will controlled fusion be realized, and then go short the NASDAQ.
Why don’t BMW drivers use their indicators?
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.
Why would you ask a question that you already know the answer to?
You won’t like the answer.
Getting fed up of stating the obvious : BMW, AUDI AND MERCEDES DRIVERS HAVE SPECIAL RULES
NISSAN ALTIMA!?
Honestly it’s spreading to pickup truck drivers too
“What causes someone to actually want to put their tongue into another persons poophole?”
Because I know how good it feels and want to make my partner feel good
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.
you really have to have a good long hard think about your life.
Or, just enjoy the booty. I know I do.
Oh I do too buddy, I do too.
Lust
Technically correct too. There’s research around how arousal severely muted our disgust response.
What treatments will revert aging.
None.
You’re welcome :)
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?
Thats cool, didnt know that
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.
If we had enough energy we could also do that in our lifetime (because time passes slower when closer to the speed of light)…
If you can accelerate our frail bodies up to those speeds fast enough :-)
I’m betting on longevity 😁
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.
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.
Wonderful idea, here’s a list of some of them for anyone that’s curious.
Don’t solve just one, ask “what are the solutions to the problems listed here?” and get all of them at once.
I really want to know what dirt Putin had on the entire GOP.
Putin has a little yellow post-it stating: “Epstein didn’t kill himself”.
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.
Giving up wealth, fortune, and fame for cosmic knowledge? You’re a real frood dude, candelestine!
What about asking for thr answer to one of the Millenium Prize Problems? That way youd get rich and still contribute knowledge to science?
“Contrary to Adams’s attestation, the answer is actually 69, not 42.”
Nice.
Or perhaps it was off by an order of magnitude, and the correct answer is 420
What’s the optimal engineering solution for fusion energy.
To consign combustion to the past.
Why limit to fusion? Ask for the optimal energy production solution, period. Might be something we never thought of.
The answer might be impossible or impractical like a Dyson Sphere.
Or maybe impossible or impractical like fusion.
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.
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.
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.
Or it might just be pretty straightforward: Use Solar panels to harvest the energy of the sun, that is there for free goddammit.
Thats not a question.
How about ‘What answer would you give to the best question I could ask you?’
- The answer is 42.
“What is love?”
No. I can predict the responses to this.
“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.”
(Fine. I’ll do it)
Oh baby, don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me. No more.
Zero points in tennis.
Love is an imaginary dagger
what are the exact numbers for the next Powerball drawing, in winning order?
…don’t fuck with me, genie, I got problems.
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You’ll get the right answer, but all bets are closed.
You get the right answer. But at the same time as everyone else.
I love how everyone unanimously agreed this was a genie situation.
Hey I can answer that 100% truthfully. I don’t know :)
That TECHNICALLY doesnt answer the question because he didnt ask what you know, he asked what the next numbers are.
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.
Shit man, I’d be happy with a 7k jackpot tbh. 70k would be hella worth it.
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
Genie produces a list of all two digit numbers in all possible orders.
If you could ask one question and get a 100% true answer, what would it be and why?
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Or what would the answer to that question be, while restating the question within the answer?
