The answers actually can be a range of things... you can get paid to take the ball (cost is negative), or you can have money left over. The question is actually ambiguous, and would only give the answer claimed if one made some primitive assumptions about the nature of money or whatnot. Besides, are they calculating equivalent cost of the wage you would be paid for the time it took you to buy it, are all amounts in US dollars or are they using cents from a different currency -- is inflation included (granted it would probably be minute). What definition of 'cost' are they using? What if the value of the bat deprecates according to some tax code can you include the deprecation on your taxes, and count the deprecation discount toward the original 'cost'? Does 'cost' include travel allowance for vehicle repair if you drove to the place where you would buy it, the 'cost' of the food you ate and the medical care you received to be functional enough to walk from your car (midwife, etc...). The simple riddle question brings up a whole lot more questions, nevermind the implication if they PAY you $5 to take the ball. And what if you have a 10% coupon for one item but not both and everything in the store is marked down 25% from the sticker price!?
What would be interesting would be a catalyst that could use brownian motion or something to split hydrogens off oxygens in water... the energy of the motion would automagically slow down the ambient motion of the other molecules, so you'd have an "over-cooling" problem where the water kept freezing around the catalyst if it was very efficient. I'm not sure if that's how these things work, but all you'd need would be something that could efficiently turn heat into hydrogen splitoffs then there you go (could use the earth's heat, maybe slow down global warming, who knows.)
Language probably has magical thinking built into it already. The words, idiomatic expressions, habits of where to find different forms of transitivity, or implications of or the ability to omit subjects or objects of various types, all have habits of the way people have thought about the world already built in to a great degree, so whenever you use words you are involuntarily conforming to the thought processes of those who have come before you and shaped the language you are using.
So in the year 2042 when we're on FF version 28 running on programmable viruses with neuronal neutrino-wave links between people's brains I sure hope all the addons get updated automatically.... especially the in-mind popup prevention addons.
All your (genomes) bases belong to us Shouldn't that be all your gnomes bases belong to us?
Seriously though what happens if a patented artificial microbe happens to be a virus that infects everyone and replaces part of everyone's DNA with its DNA -- and surreptitiously also encodes the numbers "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" into your DNA? Or even if someone adds a really short song into a piece of DNA and then it goes and copies itself over and over and over again? How much would you owe the RIAA if it made a million copies? A billion? And then you share it with 2 of your closest friends, and they share the musical virus with their friends?
For an anatomy & physiology class once we measured vitamin-c concentration (and output after taking xxx mg's of it at a specified time) for an experiment. We had to pee every half hour (so drank lots of water) and measure the concentration of vitamin-c in our urine each time (to tell how much we were excreting and at what rate -- which differs depending on how much you consume regularly.)
Long story short, after peeing so much on a cold day, (after 2.5+ hour lab) by the time we were done we had lost so much body heat that we were all shivering like crazy... I'm sure you could calculate how many BTU's or thermal units or whatever were stored (my thermodynamic laws are fuzzy here) per liter of pee then calculate total heat energy lost.
I'd say programming is art to the extent that it satisfies the human need for the recognition of the patterns and aesthetics found in nature. In other words, to the extent that programming fulfills a function and need that mimics the efficiency and beauty of patterns found in nature, it can to that extent be considered art. (Since in its highest form it mimics the nature-derived evolutionary efficacy recognized by the human brain as being 'beautiful' or at least well-patterned and having some degree of mental algorithmic symmetry.)
Either that, or programming is art to the extent that it contradicts the above yet still fulfills its natural purpose...
Slashdot Mirror
With all these talks of dust bunnies maybe we should measure things in millifurlongs
The answers actually can be a range of things ... you can get paid to take the ball (cost is negative), or you can have money left over. The question is actually ambiguous, and would only give the answer claimed if one made some primitive assumptions about the nature of money or whatnot. Besides, are they calculating equivalent cost of the wage you would be paid for the time it took you to buy it, are all amounts in US dollars or are they using cents from a different currency -- is inflation included (granted it would probably be minute). What definition of 'cost' are they using? What if the value of the bat deprecates according to some tax code can you include the deprecation on your taxes, and count the deprecation discount toward the original 'cost'? Does 'cost' include travel allowance for vehicle repair if you drove to the place where you would buy it, the 'cost' of the food you ate and the medical care you received to be functional enough to walk from your car (midwife, etc...). The simple riddle question brings up a whole lot more questions, nevermind the implication if they PAY you $5 to take the ball. And what if you have a 10% coupon for one item but not both and everything in the store is marked down 25% from the sticker price!?
What would be interesting would be a catalyst that could use brownian motion or something to split hydrogens off oxygens in water ... the energy of the motion would automagically slow down the ambient motion of the other molecules, so you'd have an "over-cooling" problem where the water kept freezing around the catalyst if it was very efficient. I'm not sure if that's how these things work, but all you'd need would be something that could efficiently turn heat into hydrogen splitoffs then there you go (could use the earth's heat, maybe slow down global warming, who knows.)
Language probably has magical thinking built into it already. The words, idiomatic expressions, habits of where to find different forms of transitivity, or implications of or the ability to omit subjects or objects of various types, all have habits of the way people have thought about the world already built in to a great degree, so whenever you use words you are involuntarily conforming to the thought processes of those who have come before you and shaped the language you are using.
So in the year 2042 when we're on FF version 28 running on programmable viruses with neuronal neutrino-wave links between people's brains I sure hope all the addons get updated automatically .... especially the in-mind popup prevention addons.
Can't we all just stop counting at 1 and call it a day ?
Seriously though what happens if a patented artificial microbe happens to be a virus that infects everyone and replaces part of everyone's DNA with its DNA -- and surreptitiously also encodes the numbers "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0" into your DNA? Or even if someone adds a really short song into a piece of DNA and then it goes and copies itself over and over and over again? How much would you owe the RIAA if it made a million copies? A billion? And then you share it with 2 of your closest friends, and they share the musical virus with their friends?
For an anatomy & physiology class once we measured vitamin-c concentration (and output after taking xxx mg's of it at a specified time) for an experiment. We had to pee every half hour (so drank lots of water) and measure the concentration of vitamin-c in our urine each time (to tell how much we were excreting and at what rate -- which differs depending on how much you consume regularly.) Long story short, after peeing so much on a cold day, (after 2.5+ hour lab) by the time we were done we had lost so much body heat that we were all shivering like crazy... I'm sure you could calculate how many BTU's or thermal units or whatever were stored (my thermodynamic laws are fuzzy here) per liter of pee then calculate total heat energy lost.
Well in that case you won't be needing your Playboy magazines...
Just mail them to me =)
My address:
Apt. 4D
Moebius Loop
Kleinville, CA 98765
Wisconsineors are still hurtling downwards whilst the Wisconsinites have already arrived, albeit not on donkeys?
I'd say programming is art to the extent that it satisfies the human need for the recognition of the patterns and aesthetics found in nature. In other words, to the extent that programming fulfills a function and need that mimics the efficiency and beauty of patterns found in nature, it can to that extent be considered art. (Since in its highest form it mimics the nature-derived evolutionary efficacy recognized by the human brain as being 'beautiful' or at least well-patterned and having some degree of mental algorithmic symmetry.)
Either that, or programming is art to the extent that it contradicts the above yet still fulfills its natural purpose...