Key topics for the day: math, assisted suicide, and Hitler.
Wes showed us how .9 repeated equals 1.0. Basically, there are mathematical proofs that show that there is no number between .9 repeated and 1, and algebraically, they are the same number:
We then talked about assisted suicide and the Hippocratic Oath. The discussion broadened to sin and alternatives to suicide. Scott remembered a time when he was told that no one will ever be given a hardship in life that he can't overcome. But Scott argues that is obviously not true for those who do succeed in killing themselves. Pat added that he disagrees with people who are anti-assisted suicide.
And finally, we talked about the prospect of going back in time to assassinate Hilter. Annie said that she definitely would because even if she couldn't kill the ideals of Hitler, she could take out the person who had the charisma, rhetoric, and power to follow through on despicable acts. Perhaps without Hitler, the genocide of 11,000,000 Jews would have never occurred. Scott disagreed, arguing that without such a despicable event, the hatred/ideas brewing in Germany and elsewhere would be stronger today. The event had to take place for the world to see how horrible it was and to prevent it happening again. Pat said something in the same vein. He said that he would not change anything in the past - like assassinating Hitler - because something worse might happen in its stead. (This led to a brief discussion about time travel, multiple realities, Back to the Future, and The Terminator movies.)
We left Dupus Boomers a bit more enlightened than when we entered.
Wes,
ReplyDeleteI've spent the last 2 hours researching the question -- Does 0.999...(reoccurring) = 1.0?
Although I still feel that, logically, saying 0.999... = 1.0 is the same as saying 3.114 = 19.045, I'm reasonably convinced that, mathematically, 0.999... does equal 1.0. What got me was this statement (paraphrased):
"Though 0.999.... means that there are an infinite number of 9's and it can never actually "approach" 1.0, by definition of infinity, there can not be any numbers between 0.999... and 1.0. Therefore, mathematically, they are considered the same, or equal."
Thanks, Wes. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a long time. I'm like a dog digging for the red dot in the carpet after you turn off the laser pointer.
-Scott