Benign musings

[NLPRN]

Scavenging is entertaining, but thought I'd post my own thread. I enjoy cognitive stimulation as many here, otherwise I see no reason for participation. A recent answers/rationale regarding common questions given to co-workers. Other commonly orated riddles/questions welcome. Please share answer and rationale.


Deep thoughts around the watercooler:

I. Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
Layperson: Anything before egg at moment of evolutionary change was non-chicken. Mutations/changes (forming chicken) occur existing while inside the egg.
Indepth: (Dependent on whether the question is theological or evolutionary) From a theological standpoint the answer is self-evident. As with many questions the rather simplistic retort is: An act of God. (God created chicken. Chicken laid eggs.) The scientific approach is analysis of biological information. Fossil records, anatomical comparisons, cladistics and molecular information are utilized during phylogeny. DNA or RNA can be found in the egg. Any mutations occuring during the gestation period still had an egg (ovum) as its precursor and occurs during formation of the zygote while existing in it's self-contained environment, an egg.
Answer: Egg

II. If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?
Layperson: Sound is energy that must be heard to be defined as sound.
Indepth: Sound: (n.) "A particular auditory impression" and/or "sensation perceived by the sense of hearing" (Merriam Webster Online). With no one (and nothing) present having aural perception, the released energy wave is not interpreted into sound.
Answer: No

III. If one travelled back in time could history be changed?
Layperson: Simply showing up in a place you did not exist before would create changes (at least microscopic) eventually increasing over time.
Indepth: History: (n.) "a treatise presenting systematically related natural phenomena" (Merriam Webster Online) From physics: "Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions" (layperson: Butterfly Effect) outlines the importance of causality. One event triggers the next creating a chain of cause-effect interactions. Applied to time travel, one's presence in the spatial dimension would at minimum create quantum and molecular state changes (position) relative to the immediate environment. Multiply changes over (X) time. More lapse in time, greater change. Simply appearing would initiate a causality not previously experienced.
A more accurate question: How MUCH history would be changed?
Answer: Yes

IV. Can a computer by itself generate a random or arbitrary result?
Layperson: Computers alone generate pseudo-random numbers "functionally" random enough for some applications.
Indepth: Due to memory and algorithmic limitations the computer can only generate a finite (and ultimately predictable) number of variable results. Given enough time repetition is inevitible. Starting with an external entropy (unpredictable source), however, as in radioactive decay a computer could potentially arrive at a true random result. The literal definition of arbitrary requires individual preference and not confined to a given number of results such that any is acceptable. Individual preference of course requires self-awareness.
Answer: No

[Tharan]

III. If one travelled back in time could history be changed?
Layperson: Simply showing up in a place you did not exist before would create changes (at least microscopic) eventually increasing over time.
Indepth: History: (n.) "a treatise presenting systematically related natural phenomena" (Merriam Webster Online) From physics: "Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions" (layperson: Butterfly Effect) outlines the importance of causality. One event triggers the next creating a chain of cause-effect interactions. Applied to time travel, one's presence in the spatial dimension would at minimum create quantum and molecular state changes (position) relative to the immediate environment. Multiply changes over (X) time. More lapse in time, greater change. Simply appearing would initiate a causality not previously experienced.
A more accurate question: How MUCH history would be changed?
Answer: Yes

The time travel "paradox" is based on the false assumption of a set story to tell for historical purposes. Is Nature concerned about human stories? If an object travels in tact to another temporal location, it is still a complete object in and of itself.

An interesting sci-fi effect, as mentioned here, would the actual moment of transition. Would there be a local compression or shock wave? Would the transition include angular momentum? In other words, if a man at the water cooler suddenly went back to Medieval Europe, how would the air compress to fill the vaccum he left behind and would he maintain his previous rotational velocity? That could be nasty. Popping into Medieval Europe at relative rest compared to the rotation of the earth would put you right into and through any local cow's backside very quickly.

IV. Can a computer by itself generate a random or arbitrary result?
Layperson: Computers alone generate pseudo-random numbers "functionally" random enough for some applications.
Indepth: Due to memory and algorithmic limitations the computer can only generate a finite (and ultimately predictable) number of variable results. Given enough time repetition is inevitible. Starting with an external entropy (unpredictable source), however, as in radioactive decay a computer could potentially arrive at a true random result. The literal definition of arbitrary requires individual preference and not confined to a given number of results such that any is acceptable. Individual preference of course requires self-awareness.
Answer: No

A truly random result, in a computer's world, would be an error. "Random" numbers are generated based on a seed and algorithm, much like encryption.

But a computer can make choice from a value table that would not necessarily include self awareness. In fact, there is a philosophical argument there that even self aware organisms cannot make truly random choices. There is always a value table involved, evn if the choice set is one of values percieved to be random.

[NLPRN]

if a man at the water cooler suddenly went back to Medieval Europe, how would the air compress to fill the vaccum he left behind and would he maintain his previous rotational velocity? That could be nasty.

I would think the surrounding air would be able to compensate with minimal disruption. Not unlike a vacuum container (example: crt/television tube) imploding. As far as maintaining rotational velocity, that's an observation I did not consider.

In fact, there is a philosophical argument there that even self aware organisms cannot make truly random choices. There is always a value table involved, evn if the choice set is one of values perceived to be random.

I suspect that is correct. Although impossible to prove, I do believe organisms think and behave in complex but predetermined patterns. The few studies I've seen on identical twins (human) show a tendency to react to stimuli in a similar pattern. This doesn't prove anything but it does appear to suggest the possibility.