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that is way too many nines. If in my life, I saw one person, and then saw every other person on earth, and then saw the first person again, and then died, then
by drdeca 3y ago
that is way too many nines.
If in my life, I saw one person, and then saw every other person on earth, and then saw the first person again, and then died, then, after seeing each person on earth once, then the fraction that I would never see again would be less than 0.9999999999 , i.e. 99.99999999% .
- Dalewyn 3y ago>that is way too many nines. Look: I come across literally thousands of people just taking a stroll through a busy airport once, and I will literally never see them again for as long as I live. Now imagine how many people I come across just taking a walk through a city: Tens if not hundreds of thousands. And again: I will literally never see them again for as long as I live. Now consider how many people I would come across just doomwatching/scrolling the media: At least a few dozen authors, casters, and editors and millions if not billions of people portrayed by them. And not only will I literally never see them again for as long as I live, technically I haven't even seen them yet. So arguably, I put down too few nines. Stalin was on to something when he said one death is a tragedy and a million deaths is a statistic.
- mistersquid 2y agoYour disregard of people you do not personally know is repugnant. One of the most beautiful and sublime things about our human species is our ability to care deeply for others we may never directly know.
- Dalewyn 2y agoUnfortunately, my capacity to regard is limited. If I tried regarding every damn person on the planet I can't regard anyone. I am thusly going to disregard people I don't know in preference to the small handful of people I do know and will have meaning in my limited life.
- drdeca 2y agoNo I mean, I gave the maximum number of nines that you could possibly be justified in listing. The maximum number of nines, would be in the case that I described: in which you meet every other person on earth, but only one of them will you ever meet again. And, based on the current total population of the earth, that would be less than 10 nines. I'm saying, if you came across 8 billion people, and would only see one of them ever again, as long as you live, then that would be less than 10 nines.
- Dalewyn 2y agoI admit the number of nines is as much artistic license to drive home a point as it is a possibly realistic statistic. Either way, we seem in agreement.
- drdeca 2y agoWell, I wouldn't say we are "in agreement" on this. The reason I commented initially just on the number of nines, is because that was a clear cut thing, which I thought kind of amusing. Certainly I agree that one cannot really mentally keep thinking long-term about each individual person one encounters That would take too much time. Yet, see Matthew 25:40-45 .