840
top 49 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 140 points 5 months ago

Are we even sure that Sisyphus can make it to either location? Because in order to reach a destination he must first make it to the halfway point, right? But to make it there, he's gotta make it to that point's halfway point, but before he gets there he need to....

[-] DancingBear@midwest.social 30 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

He doesn’t actually have to make it there you just have to pull that lever with a force an omnipotent being would have trouble accomplishing

[-] xlash123@sh.itjust.works 9 points 5 months ago

Instead, let's aim for double the end location. Then all he has to do is travel half that distance

[-] Belgdore@lemm.ee 3 points 5 months ago

But he must first travel half the distance to that line, leaving us where we started.

[-] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

It depends on whether Sisyphus has learned calculus.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

I hear they only have pomegranates in hell. Neither calculus nor gravity for them!

[-] driving_crooner 46 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Dosen't matters what you choose, given that for sisyphus to reach his destination first he have to reach half, then half of it, then half again and again making movement impossible.

[-] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 5 months ago

Ah, so the answer must be no.

[-] repungnant_canary@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

"Hołd my limes!" - said Sisyphus

[-] Sanctus@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Stands up and walks away

[-] loaExMachina@sh.itjust.works 46 points 5 months ago

Why are these the passengers

oo yeah

[-] deaf_fish@lemm.ee 3 points 5 months ago

I think that is how I would be if on a ship.without a computer, going insane.

[-] blanketswithsmallpox@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

... Millennial squats.

[-] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 41 points 5 months ago

Yes, because he's finally rolling the boulder down a hill.

[-] nicknonya@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 5 months ago

it says "towards" so not necessarily downhill

[-] jawa21@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 5 months ago

Not necessarily downhill, but the possibility of downhill is implied. Both of these locations would need to be infinitely high in order for the direction to be uphill.

[-] xia@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 5 months ago

AFAIK "infinitely up" is more plausible than "infinitely down", as in most systems you would eventually hit a center-of-mass when going down.

[-] simple@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

He could be coming in from underground though

[-] ummthatguy@lemmy.world 30 points 5 months ago
[-] affiliate@lemmy.world 26 points 5 months ago

you can always add an empty room without changing the total number of rooms, so there should be plenty of room for sisyphus and his boulder at the hotel

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 23 points 5 months ago

He did it. He beat philosophy, this is the question that we've been searching for.

[-] hexaflexagonbear@hexbear.net 19 points 5 months ago

I can get him a room at the Hilbert Hotel, I know a guy.

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 13 points 5 months ago
[-] BodilessGaze@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 months ago

I know aleph-null guys. All in the same family. Parents were lazy and named all their kids after the positive integers. 42 is my best friend.

[-] dumbass@leminal.space 1 points 5 months ago

Dude stfu, that was supposed to be between us!

[-] StoicLime@lemm.ee 16 points 5 months ago

We won't know until we open the box...

[-] beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 5 months ago

Sisyphus is both happy and not happy, as long as we don’t ask. But the instant we ask, it’s one or the other

(surely someone already made this joke)

[-] Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee 12 points 5 months ago

I feel really sorry for the cleaning crew at the hotel

[-] PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world 11 points 5 months ago

If he goes to the hotel, though, he will get to hear a great story from the owner of the hotel about a once beautiful but now decaying resort that includes a sweeping adventure involving a not-exactly-straight con man, an art theft that was not a theft, Willem Dafoe, and Tilda Swinton.

[-] Utter_Karate@hexbear.net 8 points 5 months ago

Won't the boulder roll back to the intersection anyway?

[-] Nom@lemm.ee 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

When the math teacher does philosophy questions.

[-] No_Change_Just_Money@feddit.de 7 points 5 months ago
[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

It depends on how much it costs to rent a room at the hotel. If it's exorbitantly high, then the hotel can just be knocked down it's no problem, you're only going to risk endangering rich people and so that's a victimless incident. The ship of Theseus on the other hand is most likely manned by ancient Greeks, who while not necessarily the best people by modern standards, are probably mostly poor or even slaves.

[-] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 months ago

Right you are! So, how does this help us answer the question?

P.S. Sometimes I wonder how many people on here actually believe that human value is inversely proportional to wealth with no other factors. Repeat it enough times, even as a joke or hyperbole, and you start to believe it.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

Sisyphus is rolling his boulder along a track toward the ship of theseus. It has had all its constituent parts removed and replaced and reconstructed along an alternate track. You may pull a lever and divert Sisyphus toward the reconstructed ship. How big of a dick would that make you toward the shipmaker?

[-] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago

Isn't there a version of this with like 5 intersecting thought experiments?

I hate them all.

[-] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 5 months ago

Not quite what you asked for but here: https://xkcd.com/1531/

[-] Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 5 points 5 months ago

He can't go to the hotel because infinite cannot divided by zero, which is his boulder

[-] xia@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 5 months ago

The real question is.... will it take him more than a day to reach either one?

[-] lugal@sopuli.xyz 4 points 5 months ago
[-] wieson@feddit.de 3 points 5 months ago

Someone's read Sartre's Huis Clos (⁠ ⁠´⁠◡⁠‿⁠ゝ⁠◡⁠`⁠)

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

Decent game. 4/5

[-] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 months ago

theseus can eat shit so fuck that nerd.

[-] Hello_Kitty_enjoyer@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago

death to america

[-] merari42@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Na, I am pretty sure that sysiphus sees tracks that are only the result of a shwadow play in a cave and you have to exit the cave to truly experience reality

this post was submitted on 14 May 2024
840 points (97.0% liked)

Science Memes

10923 readers
2492 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS