5 ms·

When is a file so large that it is no longer considered a number? If it is larger than 16 bytes? If I remember correctly its also not so difficult to take an a

by lixtra 5y ago

When is a file so large that it is no longer considered a number? If it is larger than 16 bytes? If I remember correctly its also not so difficult to take an arbitrary zip file, append some noise so that it becomes prime (and will still decode). So even illegal primes are not difficult.

azeirah 5y ago
I think it's a similar question to when do grains of sand become a pile of sand? Totally subjective and differs per person and doesn't have a definitive answer.
grishka 5y ago
A number can have an arbitrary amount of digits and arbitrary precision. So, any file is a number if you're brave enough. When you open a file in a hex editor, you see it as a very long hexadecimal number.
swiley 5y ago
There's absolutely no difference between files and numbers, that's the whole point behind encoding.
jasode 5y ago
>When is a file so large that it is no longer considered a number? If it is larger than 16 bytes? It's not considered a "number" when society thinks of it in a higher conceptual abstraction than a number. It may sound like tautology and circular reasoning but that's basically it. A 16-byte number is a range of 0 to 256^16. Can some value within that small range be illegal? Maybe if someone doxxed somebody with GPS coordinates of their house and embedded it in those 16 bytes, they might run in to trouble with the law. Examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=laws+illegal+doxxing https://www.google.com/search?q=laws+illegal+doxxing For larger examples... a 200k jpeg of a child in a porn scene is just a number less than 256^200000. A 2 gigabyte mp4 video file of a copyrighted Marvel Avengers movie is just a number less than 256^2000000000. Can those accused of a crime convince the following groups in society that those are just very large numbers in a mathematical sense: - police arresting you - jury convicting you - judge sentencing you to prison - employers rejecting your job application after you've served prison time
- squidfood 5y ago
  > It's not considered a "number" when society thinks of it in a higher conceptual abstraction than a number. Which just shows that "number" itself is a conceptual abstraction, no higher or lower than the others.

by lixtra 5y ago

azeirah 5y ago

I think it's a similar question to when do grains of sand become a pile of sand? Totally subjective and differs per person and doesn't have a definitive answer.

grishka 5y ago

A number can have an arbitrary amount of digits and arbitrary precision. So, any file is a number if you're brave enough. When you open a file in a hex editor, you see it as a very long hexadecimal number.

swiley 5y ago

There's absolutely no difference between files and numbers, that's the whole point behind encoding.

jasode 5y ago

>When is a file so large that it is no longer considered a number? If it is larger than 16 bytes? It's not considered a "number" when society thinks of it in a higher conceptual abstraction than a number. It may sound like tautology and circular reasoning but that's basically it. A 16-byte number is a range of 0 to 256^16. Can some value within that small range be illegal? Maybe if someone doxxed somebody with GPS coordinates of their house and embedded it in those 16 bytes, they might run in to trouble with the law. Examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=laws+illegal+doxxing https://www.google.com/search?q=laws+illegal+doxxing For larger examples... a 200k jpeg of a child in a porn scene is just a number less than 256^200000. A 2 gigabyte mp4 video file of a copyrighted Marvel Avengers movie is just a number less than 256^2000000000. Can those accused of a crime convince the following groups in society that those are just very large numbers in a mathematical sense: - police arresting you - jury convicting you - judge sentencing you to prison - employers rejecting your job application after you've served prison time

squidfood 5y ago
> It's not considered a "number" when society thinks of it in a higher conceptual abstraction than a number. Which just shows that "number" itself is a conceptual abstraction, no higher or lower than the others.