this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2024
549 points (92.6% liked)

Technology

59878 readers
4334 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The question that everyone has been dying to know has been answered. Finally! What will scientists study next?

(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I wonder if it would take more or less time with auto-complete.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Fuuuuck there goes my plan to get this monkey to write Hamlet within the lifetime of the universe...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I just listened to a podcast about assembly theory and I think that it kind of relates here too, though maybe not. If we start randomly generating text that is the lenght of the Hamlet, then Hamlet itself would be one of the possible, finite number of possibilities that could be generated within these parameters. Interesting theory nevertheless.

If we think about a screwdriver, the theory would argue that it couldn’t simply appear out of nowhere because its structure is too specific and complex to have come into existence by chance alone. For that screwdriver to exist, a multitude of precise processes are required: extracting raw materials, refining them, shaping metal, designing the handle, etc. The probability of all these steps happening in the right order, spontaneously, is essentially zero. Assembly theory would say that each stage in the creation of a screwdriver represents a selection event, where choices are made, materials are transformed, and functions are refined.

What makes assembly theory especially intriguing is that it offers a framework to distinguish between things that could arise naturally, like a rock or even an organic molecule, and things that bear the hallmarks of a directed process. To put it simply, a screwdriver couldn't exist without a long sequence of assembly steps that are improbable to arise by chance, thereby making its existence a hallmark of intentional design or, at the very least, a directed process.

[–] Brkdncr 3 points 1 month ago

Are spelling and punctuation expected to be accurate?

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie 3 points 1 month ago

Their assumptions must be wrong. They do not account for the most basic principle of the universe, "the show must go on."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

They are, however, exceptionally adept at political speechwriting.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Seems to not understand the thought experiment which is a way to contemplate infinity.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›