Timeline for Can we ask an infinite amount of questions or is there a limit to how many questions we can ask?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
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| Nov 20, 2018 at 2:21 | comment | added | Carl Masens | You could specify a question of infinite length using an algorithm, which is how we specify sets of infinite size, such as the natural numbers and the reals. | |
| Oct 18, 2018 at 21:49 | comment | added | David Thornley | @yuggib What would the meaning be? I can't tell without reading the question, but it's entirely possible that we can get human-level intelligence lasting thousands of years at some point. It seems that we agree that the number of questions is much more than what we could handle in practice. | |
| Oct 17, 2018 at 21:08 | comment | added | yuggib | @DavidThornley What is the meaning of a question that is impossible to read, because it would take one thousand lifetimes to read it (still being of finite length)? It is true that there are an infinite number of questions of arbitrary length, but it is true as well that already the finite number of questions with fixed maximal length is, by all practical purposes, impossible to manage and thus essentially "infinite-like". | |
| Oct 17, 2018 at 17:43 | comment | added | David Thornley | There are an infinite number of natural numbers, but no natural number is infinite. We can have an infinite number of question with questions of finite (but arbitrarily large) length. If we're not using physical limitations on the number of questions asked (and if we're asking if it's infinite we can't be), it doesn't seem fair to put it on the size of a given question. | |
| Oct 17, 2018 at 12:38 | comment | added | bukwyrm | the 'distinct and universally unambiguous' might be too ambitious even for questions asked with discreet symbols; As questions would also be concerning real objects (as opposed to pure logic and math), the issue gets muddied again: Is a question about a hurtling stone the same question as it's clone regarding the same stone, but 5 seconds later (different velocity, position, lighting,...) ? | |
| Oct 16, 2018 at 14:23 | comment | added | yuggib | Interesting point, however allowing for sensory aids in posing questions would make the number of such questions rather difficult to quantify. In fact, it is not completely clear (at least to me) that a finite number of humans are potentially able to produce an infinite number of "sensory question parts", each with distinct and universally unambiguous meaning. | |
| Oct 16, 2018 at 14:10 | comment | added | bukwyrm | You may also include the possibility that part of the question is not composed of a symbol that varies discreetly, but instead continuously - For instance pointing somehwere and asking 'what is there'? then you do not need infinite question-length to produce infinite variability. | |
| Oct 16, 2018 at 14:04 | history | edited | yuggib | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 16, 2018 at 13:58 | history | edited | yuggib | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 16, 2018 at 7:11 | history | answered | yuggib | CC BY-SA 4.0 |