this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
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You’ve inadvertently hit on the beginnings of an apparent paradox to do with the relationship between numbers and the counting numbers
Suppose the largest number you can have is X and the smallest number you can have is -Y. Then between -Y and X, you can count X+Y numbers which is clearly larger than X. But X is the largest possible number so X+Y doesn’t exist.
Gotta stop you right there. A largest number doesn't and can't exist. If we introduce one, paradoxes arise all over the place and the whole system falls apart.