4 ms·

Aren't we getting back to the hypothetical question that any image, digitally encoded, would theoretically exist at some index of any infinite number (e.g. Pi),

Aren't we getting back to the hypothetical question that any image, digitally encoded, would theoretically exist at some index of any infinite number (e.g. Pi), given enough digits? Is the possession of Pi then illegal?

giornogiovanna 8y ago
Very far-off digits of π (assuming π is even a normal number) are not easily accessed or enumerated. In fact, you'd probably need more information to encode the index and length of your sequence than you would to just write the data out. In contrast, a block chain is easily downloaded and traversed, indices are small, and most importantly, there is a very, very obvious intent to distribute illegal content. I don't think that these situations are comparable.
- saltvedt 8y ago
  "The Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula (BBP formula) is a spigot algorithm for computing the nth binary digit of the mathematical constant π using base-16 representation. The formula can directly calculate the value of any given digit of π without calculating the preceding digits. (...) Though the BBP formula can directly calculate the value of any given digit of π with less computational effort than formulas that must calculate all intervening digits, BBP remains linearithmic (O(n log n)), whereby successively larger values of n require increasingly more time to calculate; that is, the "further out" a digit is, the longer it takes BBP to calculate it, just like the standard π-computing algorithms." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey%E2%80%93Borwein%E2%80%93Plouffe_formula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey%E2%80%93Borwein%E2%80%9...
claudiawerner 8y ago
No, because the law doesn't work on the principle of mathematical technicalities and possibilities, it attempts to work on the principle of reason. The question you should really be asking is whether a judge would deem that to be illegal and the answer is almost certainly "no".

giornogiovanna 8y ago

Very far-off digits of π (assuming π is even a normal number) are not easily accessed or enumerated. In fact, you'd probably need more information to encode the index and length of your sequence than you would to just write the data out. In contrast, a block chain is easily downloaded and traversed, indices are small, and most importantly, there is a very, very obvious intent to distribute illegal content. I don't think that these situations are comparable.

saltvedt 8y ago
"The Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula (BBP formula) is a spigot algorithm for computing the nth binary digit of the mathematical constant π using base-16 representation. The formula can directly calculate the value of any given digit of π without calculating the preceding digits. (...) Though the BBP formula can directly calculate the value of any given digit of π with less computational effort than formulas that must calculate all intervening digits, BBP remains linearithmic (O(n log n)), whereby successively larger values of n require increasingly more time to calculate; that is, the "further out" a digit is, the longer it takes BBP to calculate it, just like the standard π-computing algorithms." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey%E2%80%93Borwein%E2%80%93Plouffe_formula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey%E2%80%93Borwein%E2%80%9...

claudiawerner 8y ago

No, because the law doesn't work on the principle of mathematical technicalities and possibilities, it attempts to work on the principle of reason. The question you should really be asking is whether a judge would deem that to be illegal and the answer is almost certainly "no".