

Fetishes - andreyf
http://xkcd.com/468/

======
neilk
That's Russell's paradox, which he knew all about, since it was bloody named
after him.

Godel would have said something more like this: "Sure, put me down for 'fetish
for systems of fetish knowledge which cannot prove the existence of this
fetish.'"

Sorry to subject you to pedantry, but someone was wrong on the internet.

~~~
smanek
I was thinking the same thing.

One of my favorite set theory jokes is based on Russel's Paradox.

A mathematician starts a proof: "Consider the set of all sets that have never
been considered. Oh wait ... never mind"

~~~
technoguyrob
But that's perfectly valid. We have just considered that set, so obviously
it's not an element of itself. I think maybe what you meant to say is after
that: "Now consider an arbitrary element in this set." That would present a
problem. Of course so would showing it's non-empty, but I think there could be
a way around that.

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flipbrad
Read "Godel Escher Bach - an Eternal Golden Braid"? Wonderful book by a
remarkably clever computer scientist attempting a (very tricky) definition of
consciousness (or 'a system getting meaning when composed of meaningless
parts', like your singular identity from a jumbled mass of 'selfish'
neurones), with a view to explaining his thoughts on how to achieve strong AI

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach>

------
michael_dorfman
Very funny, but the misspelling makes me wince.

~~~
ars
I didn't notice one, care to specify?

~~~
brent
Russel

~~~
andreyf
Damn your confidence! I want my upvote back:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell>

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sdpurtill
This isn't Digg. This has nothing to do with Hacker News either.

~~~
felixc
I usually don't like to engage in the "this doesn't belong on HN" game, but
the fact is that most of us who enjoy XKCD already read it, thanks to the
magic of RSS or knowing what day of the week it is. So basically, if you like
XKCD, this is old news, and if you don't, this is boring news. Summation: this
doesn't belong on HN.

~~~
ars
Except that by posting it we get to discuss Godel and Russell's paradox.

~~~
biohacker42
Hmmm, I agree with felixc, but you Mr. ars make a good point. Perhaps when
submitting the comic it should come with a title in no way obviously related
to web comics?

Something that would not interest the digg crowd. Then we get to discuss Godel
and Russell, and people like me and felixc feel less need to complain.

~~~
ars
> Perhaps when submitting the comic it should come with a title in no way
> obviously related to web comics?

This one did.

