> philo > supertasks-zeno-paradox-vsauce

Supertasks

Vsauce - 2015-12-08

The Vsauce Holiday Box is here! It's full of exclusive Vsauce merch, cool science toys, and ALL Vsauce proceeds are donated to Alzheimer’s research!! ORDER HERE: http://geekfuel.com/Vsauce

SOURCES AND EXTRAS:

my twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tweetsauce
my instagram: http://www.instagram.com/electricpants

Gabriel’s horn: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel%27s_Horn
http://blog.plover.com/math/gabriels-horn.html

Gabriel’s wedding cake:

https://oumathclub.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/gabriels-wedding-cake/
PDF: http://people.emich.edu/aross15/math121/misc/gabriels-horn-ma044.pdf

Supersolid PDF: http://people.emich.edu/aross15/math121/misc/love-1989-supersolids.pdf

Zeno’s supertask paradoxes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes
https://math.dartmouth.edu/~matc/Readers/HowManyAngels/SpaceTimeMotion/STM.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7Z9UnWOJNY

Staccato Zeno runner with no velocity/acceleration discontinuities: https://goo.gl/2mYdcT

General supertask reads:

http://personal.lse.ac.uk/robert49/ebooks/PhilSciAdventures/lecture25.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-supertasks/
http://mathpages.com/rr/s3-07/3-07.htm
https://math.dartmouth.edu/~matc/Readers/HowManyAngels/SpaceTimeMotion/STM.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertask
http://www.vordenker.de/gunther_web/achill1.htm

Big book of collected supertask writing: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0AzP9WLLJLcC&dq=order+type+of+the+integers&source=gbs_navlinks_s

PDF’s about supertasks:

http://pitt.edu/~jearman/EarmanNorton1996a.pdf
http://www.interciencia.es/infinity/thomsonlamp.pdf
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1309.0144.pdf
http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/onjpl.pdf
http://personal.lse.ac.uk/ROBERT49/teaching/ph103/2013-2014/pdf/EarmanNorton_CommentsOnLauraudogoita.pdf
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1503.05847v1.pdf
http://www.phys.nthu.edu.tw/~pep/download/Drawer/187.pdf
http://arxiv.org/pdf/math/0212047.pdf

Plank scale:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_scale
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/P/Planck+Units
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1oetkk/eli5_why_is_a_planck_length_the_smallest_possible/

Hyper computation and supertasks:

http://georgschauer.com/2013/04/03/overcoming-constraints-on-reliability-in-nomologically-accessible-m-h-relativistic-hypercomputers/
http://www.hypercomputation.net/download/1996a_hogarth.pdf

Thomson’s Lamp:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson%27s_lamp
http://alexanderpruss.blogspot.ro/2009/05/thomson-lamp.html

Benacerraf on supertasks: [PDF] http://joelvelasco.net/teaching/hum9/benacerraf62-supertasks.pdf

Ordinal numbers (omega and omega+1):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinal_number
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/ordinals.htm
http://math.wikia.com/wiki/Ordinal_number

Ross-Littlewood paradox:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross%E2%80%93Littlewood_paradox
https://angryfaic.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/four-paradoxes-involving-infinity/

New York Times Neanderthal genome article: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/08/15/sleeping-with-the-enemy

Neanderthals: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/125-restless-genes/dobbs-text
https://rogerdhansen.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/the-wandering-gene/
and boats: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328544.800-neanderthals-were-ancient-mariners/

Another fun infinity paradox: http://lesswrong.com/lw/isp/on_the_importance_of_taking_limits_infinite/

SMBC Zeno comic: http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2759

MATH!

https://www.youtube.com/user/standupmaths
https://www.youtube.com/user/numberphile
https://www.youtube.com/user/singingbanana
https://www.youtube.com/user/Vihart

music from:

http://www.youtube.com/JakeChudnow
and
http://www.audionetwork.com

Dion van Oene - 2019-01-03

An infinite number of mathematicians walks into a bar. The first orders a pint. The second orders half, the third a quarter, and so on. The bartender pours them 2 pints and says, "Sort it out yourselves."

Pzev - 2020-02-15

Ok this is good lmao

Sillimant - 2020-02-17

@Happy Fakeboulder hey, dipshit, jokes are meant to have multiple punchlines, that stops them being repetitive and stale

Lightn0x - 2020-02-27

The punchline was "You mathematicians just don't know your limits"

Felix Roux - 2020-03-07

The original is "You should know your limits", which also refers to the term limit in maths; a number that an infinite series tends towards. "Sort it out yourselves" doesn't even make sense.

Nugget - 2020-03-08

8kth like epik

SubscribeToPewdiepie - 2019-12-26

you cant make gabriel's cake because the max height is 256 blocks

Nathan Knudson 2025 - 2020-03-03

You brain is too large

A͓̽e͓̽s͓̽h͓̽m͓̽a͓̽ ͓̽T͓̽h͓̽e͓̽ ͓̽L͓̽u͓̽n͓̽a͓̽c͓̽y͓̽ ͓̽S͓̽w͓̽o͓̽r͓̽d͓̽w͓̽r͓̽a͓̽t͓̽h͓̽ _ - 2020-03-04

m i n e c r a f t

George Six - 2020-03-05

@Roy Mazingo it is

obtuse square - 2020-03-06

@Wilford Warfstache r/whooosh

BekN - 2020-01-03

Michael: do you want some cake?
Me: just a small slice, thanks
Michael: say no more

Areee Ash - 2020-01-25

one year later ummm actually why not just give me a 5×5 inch piece of cake

BekN - 2020-01-26

@devil tobleh the response was not genuine, and your initail comment did not bother me. It was light banter, however, you really pissed me off with the blatent homophobia and transphobia that followed

BloodBath YT1 - 2020-03-01

2 min later here
That's q atom
Like you

Onkar Singh - 2020-03-03

good one

Levi Lima Oliveira Rodrigues - 2020-03-04

What did the guy originally say?

Thomas Stokely - 2019-11-07

The more important question is, does Michael have an infinite amount of Christmas sweaters?

SANDWITCHPAIN - 2020-01-24

me 24/7

Kristyan de Souza - 2020-01-27

Probaly

RealRomplayer - 2020-02-11

And which sweater will he wear at the end of the video?

Sunny animates - 2020-02-25

Cue music

Lord seafood - 2020-02-28

Yes, or does he?

ChrisLuigiTails - 2019-12-08

Michael: You will never have an infinite number of balls
Me: :(

Tyler Coon - 2020-02-20

cilla d store infinite pee

KoreaFace - 2020-02-23

“Infinity cum” is a medical term given to a male who has a genetically mutation where sperm cells replenish much faster than a normal male. In return calories are burned at such a exponential rate because the body’s testicles are put under enormous stress, and have to recover.

Miraj Parikh - 2020-02-25

@eethan I have turned into
baby hose

Advanced Symbiosis - 2020-03-01

@KoreaFace wtf where did you learn this

KoreaFace - 2020-03-01

@Advanced Symbiosis I have it, and I am a skinny ass boi

Random Guy - 2016-06-18

>Keeps Cutting
>Cuts Atom
>Nuclear Fission
>ohshit.jpg
>Everyone dies

Tyler Coon - 2020-02-20

Gotta cook that cake somehow

RaihanHA - 2020-02-28

Random Guy cutting one nucleus will release quite a bit of energy but not enough to kill someone

Luiz Faraco - 2020-03-01

Hmmm actually only atoms heavier than iron on periodic table liberate energy upon fission (fission consumes energy and fusion liberate).
After Iron this is inverted (fission liberate energy, fusion consume)

Private Privateson - 2020-03-04

@Mad Lad god I hope not

Lego Yoda - 2020-03-08

This belongs in a green text

Vivideate Productions - 2019-12-02

Doctor: "You have 2 days to live"
Michael: "I better get started on some tasks"

CheekO - 2020-03-01

The smartest comment in this comment section

Levi Lima Oliveira Rodrigues - 2020-03-04

Helth

Default Skin - 2020-03-04

Vivideate Productions He waits one day to cut a cake

Zheenbek Akimzhanov - 2020-03-05

If you divide your time into 2 infinite times, and you're gonna live forever while doing it

Default Skin - 2020-03-05

@Zheenbek Akimzhanov What?

theoman971 - 2020-01-15

5 years later and i still marvel at how delicious that cake looks

Tyler Coon - 2020-02-20

Probably doesn’t look that good nowadays

notDonald Trump - 2020-03-03

@Tyler Coon brobably yes

Duud - 2019-12-28

Plot twist: Michael is made of infinite sweaters

Npro33 - 2020-02-15

Duud lol

Blah Blah - 2020-02-17

Plot Twist: Micheal taking off his sweaters is a supertask

GeekJokes - 2020-02-22

but... where's michael?
song starts
at what point do the sweaters stop and the body begins?
he clearly has a head and arms and legs... but if the sweaters go infinitely inward, zenoianly of course, since the "radius" is finite, where would his torso be located?

Danity - 2020-02-24

And he has an infinite amount of balls.

F L X K I N G RFW - 2020-02-25

Michael is just doing a supertask as he spoke about how supertasks are impossible to complete.

A person with a google account - 2020-01-25

Michael: infinity isn’t a number
6 year old kid on the playground: did i s t u t t e r

becomepostal - 2020-03-03

?

SatoshiUltra - 2019-09-29

s-sir I just wanted to know if you wanted the receipt

BenXVariety - 2020-01-22

i dont get it

Anthony Lozano - 2020-01-25

@BenXVariety the council will decide your fate

BenXVariety - 2020-01-25

@Anthony Lozano I still dont get it

Anthony Lozano - 2020-01-25

@BenXVariety when I go to buy a candy bar but end up telling my life story to the cashier

Vinny Horapeti - 2020-02-18

Copied

Arthur Reitz - 2019-10-28

"Which color will you see ? Orange or green ?"
"No"

Awarepillow - 2019-11-27

Arthur Reitz what if you’re colorblind

Jackson Percy - 2020-02-02

Brown.

Derrick G. - 2020-02-26

Well, that's pessimistic. You say goodbye and I say hello.

Flophawk - 2019-11-26

nobody:
scientists: p l o n k

Shellby - 2020-01-24

plonks

TechTechInc - 2020-01-28

Me: “a*”

Soper Frazzy - 2020-02-07

@EnerJetix that's actually the wrong pronounciation, Max Planck was German, so to hear what his name (and thus the unit of measurement) are pronounced like, put it into Google translate and let it read it out in german

Harry The Moth - 2020-02-14

b i g b r a i n t i m e

roland van der Vegt - 2020-02-27

@EnerJetix "I've heard other youtubers say it like that"

Your source is other youtubers?🤨...

Max Planck was german. It's not pronounced as plonk

mike rotch - 2019-12-26

"is the lamp on or off?"


Yes. Yes it is

Drew Upton - 2020-01-25

Wonderful!! The responses are great too!

Dylan Bollo - 2020-01-25

@Pedro Sousa but the switch might be on even though its broken

josh easter - 2020-02-07

clever

howard baxter - 2020-02-16

It would be on, but it would be at 50% brightness.

Some_Random_O_O - 2020-02-20

if you turn it on and off faster than the speed of light it will always be on.

ZACHARY FRENCH - 2019-12-06

Mathematician: *Creates law* nothing can break this law


Other Mathematician: Oh really? *Creates exception specifically to break that law*


Mathematician: :/

FairbrookWingates - 2019-12-10

"Our impressive ability to confuse ourselves", I love this phrase.

Failed Hivemind - 2019-11-10

"Why infinitely accelerate when you can infinitely decelerate?"
~my brain

John Steele - 2020-02-23

This is a majority of humanity in a nutshell which is also why humanity is also poor at governing its self. Its the dumb leading the dumb.

Rorarius - 2020-03-03

eventually youll just start going the other direction if you infinitely decelerate hehe. your magnitude would start increasing eventually

LPSDragon :3 - 2019-12-30

Micheal: There is no beginning or end, No one ever dies or gets born

Micheal’s son wanting to know what two plus two was: bruh

sport15ball - 2019-11-27

Vsauce: Or can you?

Me: Why didn’t the music play?

moneyman - 2016-07-11

People think I'm smart because of you.

Bob_Kat - 2020-02-17

This is so toxic ididnotexpectthetoxinlevelsinthiscommentchainsendhelpimbeingpoisened

Emily Kalunga - 2020-02-20

It's like you're blaming him for your problems lmao 😂

Swole Foods - 2020-02-21

bruh I responded to this to make the replies 50

spider hack - 2020-02-23

@Collin McRae tbh everyone is just doing research some do more some do less the outcome is the same.

Boom Kill - 2020-02-26

@frisa96 You are*

Harshhaze - 2019-12-10

Class: "Plank length Plank length Plank length!"

Vsauce: "P L O N K"

Me: "What the Flonk"

Monosidic Shamnadium - 2020-02-13

Its "planck" not "plank " that's why.

SeaWings Are Valid - 2020-02-20

Because it's not like a plank of wood, it's German (I think). After the physicist Max Planck.

Yoshi By Toto - 2020-02-29

M A X P L O N K

Qdawg 24 - 2020-03-08

Maximum Plonking

Jake Lisowski - 2019-12-31

Michael: *Turns lamp on and off infinitely*
Pissed-Off Neighbor: HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO TURN THAT ON AND OFF?
Michael: yes

Enda Maginn - 2019-12-19

Jokes on us, Michael actually had a live audience at the beginning

Rovix - 2019-10-30

I like the fact he is wearing an infinite amount of sweaters

Cpt Prepuce - 2019-10-12

My theory is that Achilles waited until his toe nail grew pass the finish line

god of door - 2020-02-14

shit  lmao

Mr. Animemeguy - 2020-02-15

How could his toe nail grow in a minute?

Badog98 - 2020-02-24

Hank Anderson 2 minutes

10K Subscribers With Some Videos - 2020-02-29

Toes

Kaj Koniarski - 2020-03-06

So the toenail grows that much in under 2 minutes?

arwen with an e - 2019-12-06

legend says achilles still hasn’t reached the finish line

Jake Egan - 2019-11-20

I was ready for him to take his shirt off at the end

Not_Ur_Typical Ratdaddy - 2020-01-21

I do in every of his videos

springtrap1987 - 2020-02-05

@Not_Ur_Typical Ratdaddy ' - '

DisturbedNeo - 2020-02-24

“Is the lamp on or off?”

Erwin Schrödinger has entered the chat

shad - 2020-01-03

Anyone else get mad when he cut the half of the cake vertical again instead of along the line on the cake

Tortoise McTortoise - 2020-01-06

YES OMG THANK YOU

John Steele - 2020-02-23

If this is the ONLY thing you see wrong with the world. I have to ask, wtf are you doing to contribute to anything princesses? Holy shit, you shit slinging apes might as well just live in a bubble. Life is too hard for you apparently. I bet that if the wind blew the wrong way, you two would be whining like little bitches. Fuckin grow up and get a pair or become fertilizer for the earth and shove off the mortal coil. We already have enough wastes of potential on this planet, dont need your help fucking the gene pool up. To be honest you two would be the perfect candidates for soylent green.

I mean wtf do you two do besides guzzle midol by the gallon and get triggered ragging all over everything like a leaking ruby red paint can. Tell me can i come over and fuck up everything you love? Seems only fair since you came here to take your shit. So maybe society ought to squeeze their deuce loaves right into your triggered shit spewing cake holes.

Welcome to earth punks. Since you had to bitch about non issues, its time for you to suck down your medicine.

You can thumbs down me all you want but 3 points you ought to know.
1: i got in your head and im here to stay.
2: your opinion doesnt matter to me because you have no value or life in my eyes. Otherwise you wouldnt be wasting it acting like injured prey.
3: you admit defeat because there is no way to get back at me so you do the submissive back biting option of giving me a thumbs down which has zero impact on how i feel but it totally pushed all of your buttons. So i win and you lost because you had to react (either in a thumbs down i will never see or a reply of which i wont read because my peers have shown me they have no value by being stupid). You just got fragged and teabagged. Nothing you can do about it except probably o.d. on booze or drugs to try to erase a memory that can never be forgotten. Or get yourself arrested, cause problems with your family and friends all because you opened the door and let me in your mind. Trolllololol

that random commenter - 2020-02-26

​@John Steele if you don't read nor reply to this, that's rather stupid, and we'll both have the last laugh despite that only one person is supposed to win. if you reply, your entire comment contradicts itself, if you just read this, you'll realize that nobody actually cares about your comment just like you don't care about mine. the whole world runs off of being kind to people, nobody gets anywhere doing what you're doing. if anyone else is reading, don't be like this guy. ocd is a normal trait in humans leftover from old survival genes, maybe a bit annoying at the worst, this is just like insect repellant. there have always been useless people in society due to the nature of old survival instincts. do anything you can to help the world. quit smoking, walk the 10 minutes to work instead of driving, use a little less electricity. there's always a way you can help. john steele here figures out the best way to help earth is ridicule people over 26 words. scientists have only done what they could have today with helping each other. kindness can get you far in life. when you have nowhere to go, kindness can get you people you can fall back on, people you can trust. these aren't opinions, these are cold hard facts. once john steele falls, nobody will help him up. and, back to you john, if you think about bragging about the amount of friends you have or something, just know that the only reason they still like you is because they haven't seen what you have done. looking at the stuff you reference ("trololololol, teabagged and fragged") it seems you are not mature enough to talk about any of these subjects, and if it's just a troll, then well i'll be damned, you got me there

Vsauce - 2015-12-08

ωtf, infinity?

Funny Valentine - 2019-11-19

OOP

Brian Lu - 2019-11-19

Hi

Brian Lu - 2019-11-19

I am a person

Carrie - 2020-02-08

jkdodekejejjrjjdjd

Carrie - 2020-02-08

kdkdoor

Kris R-K - 2019-11-22

No one:
Michael: pulls off sweater to reveal another sweater

Ernie Summerfield - 2020-01-01

Scientists: This paradox cannot be solved!
Michael: Hold my beer.

Curly macaroni Boi - 2020-02-07

Ernie Summerfield or can you

Hoopy - 2019-10-23

Who else noticed him removing a shirt in half the time every time before the end?

redgamer21 - 2019-12-16

me!

Paweł Buczyński - 2019-12-28

Actually it wasn't every half. It was rather random.



...Or was it?
Maybe he used some rules?

DazedExpression - 2020-01-01

The cake is a lie. (4 years late on the video, 12 years late on the reference. I get halfway to the point of stopping using it every day.)

Magollon - 2016-02-07

Why can't teachers make stuff interesting like him

PooPSie - 2019-12-05

Even tho I don’t understand this

## - 2019-12-05

@PooPSie hahaha dummy

mihaiio C. - 2020-01-29

mythocondria is the powerhous eof the cell

josh easter - 2020-02-07

the good ones do

FlyDreams - 2020-02-13

because they don't have enough shirt

yolki - 2019-10-23

0:05 me on my birthday and I see my aunt in the driveway with presents

Stella Davis - 2020-02-06

11:28 I will see green because I am colorblind.






Well, not really. Only partially. There's three types of cones in your eye, and people can have any combination of cones that work or don't work. The three general types of colorblindness are protonopia, deuteronopia, and tritanopia. Inability to see the colors red, green, and blue respectively. I have what is called protanomoly, meaning I have some working red cones, but not the usual number, meaning a some fraction of them are dysfunctional or missing. So I can see red, just not as well as most people. But that's okay because red is my least favorite color. Or maybe it's my least favorite color because I can't see it as well. I'm not colorblind, just, as I like to put it, "spectrally challenged". Which means it doesn't really affect my day to day life very much, really only the occasional assumption of there being red where there isn't. Only time it matters is with those dot tests. Do you know they're designed to trick you? There's ones that even fully colorblind people can see, there's ones that no one can see, and there's ones that colorblind people think they can see but they're actually seeing it differently (86 vs 53, etc) But wait, isn't Michael colorblind anyway? So he can only see one of the colors anyway. I think I heard he's a deuteranope, but I'm not 100% sure.

Advanced Symbiosis - 2020-03-01

uh

SZYMON KULIK - 2019-12-24

It's like trying to get an exact answer if Schrodinger's cat is still alive without opening the box except we know it can only be one answer but we'll never know for certain.

Johannies Bernt Gertrude Von gerstenwalden - 2019-12-24

SZYMON KULIK did u like Ur Own comment???

David Z - 2019-12-15

21:05
By the end of the video, Michael has vibrated an infinite amount of times,



Now calculate the mass of the sun.

Dominic N - 2015-12-08

You will never have an infinite number of balls.
-Michael, 2015

Albert Dotd - 2019-07-09

*Gets roundhouse-kicked by Chuck Norris.

Miguel Rodríguez - 2019-07-12

Lmao

Tristormyboi 99 - 2019-12-23

Or will you!?!

Αλεξανδρος Πατσαλος - 2020-03-04

God replied you, are you happy now?

DKrazy - 2020-02-28

Michael: "an unlimited supply of balls"
Ten year olds: *high-pitched demonic screaching"

Hummingbird Spark - 2020-01-17

Me: oh I just want a small piece of cake
Michal: 👌🏻
Me: this is a two dimensional shape

Daniel Rieth - 2020-01-26

Me: Tired af, watching Vsauce at 2:30 a.m.

My suggested: All Vsauce

Me: just one more



or so I thought

Knedlik MCPE - 2019-11-17

Michael: lives
Also michael: Or do i?

gam ma - 2016-11-10

Hey, Vsauce. Michael here.
Inhales
Infinity.
[video ending]

15IDKMYNAME15 - 2017-02-07

Michał Górecki I know I was thinking this too

KusKusPL - 2017-02-10

and as always thanks for watching

Viktor_the_A - 2017-02-18

super reproductive skills

jakarta gamer - 2019-04-28

HIS video IS the infinity

Lavar Ball - 2019-11-19

Damn he wore like 7 different sweaters throughout the vid

Josh Prendiz - 2020-01-28

I died when he took his sweater off a second time,only to have his first sweater on that he started with..Haaa

Paolur - 2019-10-19

Vsauce: You will never have an infinite amount of balls
Me: u w0t m8

Gretchen Caldwell - 2019-12-29

4:34 that just be sounding like the amount of stuff i got to do for hw...

one thousand subs with aint no vids? - 2019-10-25

Vsause: infinity is not a number and you cant cout to it.
also vsause:how to count past infinity