3 ms·
A trilemma.
by espadrine 6y ago
A trilemma.
- sillysaurusx 6y agoThis is absolutely hilarious and made me laugh really hard for some reason. Thanks. I'm using this term forever.
- Jtsummers 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilemma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilemma Coined in the 1600s, most likely. Can be used one of two ways: 1. A choice between 3 unfavorable options where you must choose one (lose your arm, your leg, or your other arm). 2. A choice between 3 favorable options where you can only choose two (the typical ones we see discussed/posted here).
- ovi256 6y agoOne can observe that the first is a special case of the second, through the transformation of negation ("choose which two of your arm, your leg or your other arm to keep"). We can unify both under this system.
- quietbritishjim 6y agoNegation works both ways, so it's not that one is a special case of the other; instead, they're simply equivalent.
- Jtsummers 6y agoRight. The normal way we see it written here, like with the CAP theorem, would be: CA~P + C~AP + ~CAP The way it's normally phrased would be: choose 2 of the 3 that you want, the other will be absent from your system. The alternate phrasing would be: choose 1 of the 3 that you can sacrifice, the others will be present in your system. But both phrasings describe the same logical expression written above. For the right arm, left arm, leg example it's similar. You're being asked which one you would sacrifice so it could be written as: RA LA ~L + RA ~LA L + ~RA LA L Offering two phrasings: which do you want to keep or which will you give up?
- adamredwoods 6y agoThe list on Wikipedia is pretty neat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilemma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilemma > One of the earliest uses of the trilemma formulation is that of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, rejecting the idea of an omnipotent and omnibenevolent god (as summarised by David Hume).