Comments on: How about we make space for new MeFi members by shifting everyones user number up 1?

How about we make space for new MeFi members by shifting everyones user number up 1?

Orange Goblin — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 13:32:50 -0800

Welcome to the Hotel Infinity! A narrative description of Cantor's ideas of infinity.

By: adrianhon

adrianhon — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 14:01:35 -0800

I heard about a great play called Infinities that uses these very concepts; sounds like a wonderful thing for theatre.

By: The Michael The

The Michael The — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 14:30:48 -0800

And a narrative description of Borges' ideas of infinity: The Library of Babel, one of my favorite short stories of all time. [Link is full text of the story! It's quite short and well worth reading.]

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 16:47:44 -0800

hm. I was waiting for them to find a way for an uncountably infinite set of people to show up...

By: Gamecat

Gamecat — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 17:20:21 -0800

The Hotel also has a narrative prescance in Rudy Rucker's delightful While Light, in case you fancy another illustration. The whole book is pretty much about infinity in fact.

By: Gamecat

Gamecat — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 17:21:31 -0800

Bugger, I'll spell-check the next one, I promise...

By: dg

dg — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 17:54:12 -0800

[this is good]

By: mbd1mbd1

mbd1mbd1 — Sun, 07 Dec 2003 18:05:43 -0800

I originally learned it as David Hilbert's Hotel, courtesy of Arkansas Governor's School.

By: swordfishtrombones

swordfishtrombones — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 00:22:27 -0800

For anyone interested in this topic, I can recommend Amir Aczel's "The Mystery of Aleph", a very nice biography of Cantor, as well as an insightful tour of the mathematics behind it. Mind-boggling stuff.

By: jcruelty

jcruelty — Mon, 08 Dec 2003 15:46:06 -0800

there's also david foster wallace's newest, everything and more. i enjoyed it, though a friend who knows more math than me quibbles with wallace's fixation on cantor.