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. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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Irrational numbers are an infinite source of information. (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

They're probably the only things that "create" information in the sense that you can always grab another slice. Thank you delicious pi!

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't see why not, it's just numbers, which is all we store most data as.

You could use it as a source of pseudorandom numbers to encrypt an infinite data steam, e.g. we'll encrypt using e, starting at position 40468.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Randomness is the opposite of information.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

It is not. If I in July in Europe will say "there is no snow outside", I give you very little information. If in same conditions I will say "there is snow outside", I will give a lot of information.

Amount of information is proportional to (logarithm of) improbability of outcome.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

It's irrational, which just appears random (which is why I said pseudorandom).