 et's take a
cyber-run at nothing
with conventional journalistic questions...
who?
what?
why?
where?
when?
Who?
Set up a search for "Seinfeld" AND "nothing" and you
will get more than 10,000 webpages. Apparently, nothing is popular
enough as a subject to deserve some sophisticated
attention, but...
What?
Visit a cyber-dictionary for a
self-referent
joke.
| "Enter the word," commands the
window.
So you type "n o t h
i n g"
"Aw come on!" complains the
dictionary. |
Why?
Thing is, English -- hey,
every language -- needs nothing, which is really something, is it
not? Consider the following paradox (with apologies
to Bertrand
Russell):
|
Nothing
is a class. Does
it include itself?
The answer is yes, it
includes itself, therefore it must be
included in the class of all classes which
include themselves.
On the contrary...
The answer is no, it does not
include itself, it is a class which does not
include itself and therefore must be
included in the class of all classes which
do not include themselves, so the answer is
yes, it includes itself, then it is not a
class which does not include itself and
therefore must not be included in the class
of all classes which do not include
themselves, so the answer is no, it does not
include itself, it is a class which does not
include itself and therefore must be
included in the class of all classes which
do not include themselves, so the answer is
yes, it includes itself, then it is not a
class which does not include itself and
therefore must not be included in the class
of all classes which do not include
themselves, so the answer is ...
|
Where?
Contrary to the line in the
poem above which reads, "What is it that fills every
void beyond space?" you won't find nothing in outer space.
Look for "dark matter" instead, which is decidedly not
nothing. Our queries have carried us from the
ridiculous and benign to the cosmic and
controversial...
The 'Big Bang' postulates that the
cosmological expansion occurs, not because galaxies
move apart through space, but because more space is
being continually added between them. That's nothing. This
continual creation of space -- nothing -- ex
nihilo is an integral part of the theory.
Without it, the cosmological principle would be
violated.
Now, the argument that substitutes
the hypothetical "dark matter" for nothing is itself a
fudge factor required to obtain agreement with
observations that were not in accord with 'Big Bang'
expectations, and nothing
comes in three flavors: hot, cold, or
mixed. The complexities do not surrender easily to
Occam's Razor, but nothing
comes to the
rescue since we prefer the model with
fewest free parameters.
When?
As important as it may be,
English apparently got along without nothing until the 12th
century...according to one dictionary
-- which gives us another paradox:
And in the beginning there was
nothing.
And God said 'Let there be
light.'
And there was still nothing, but now you
could see it!
--
Anonymous
|
Whether you can see it or not,
you simply cannot say there is nothing in the Bible.
| nothing NUXEQ
Etymology: Middle English,
from Old English non-thing, nothing,
from non + thing
thing.
1 : not any thing :
no thing
<leaves nothing to the imagination>
2 : no part
3 : one of no interest, value,
or consequence
<they mean nothing to me>
|
Bonus Puzzle
Solution
|
English
|
Français
|
birth before
pregnancy
|
accouchement
avant grossesse
|
adult before
youth
|
adulte avant
jeunesse
|
death before
life
|
mort avant vie
|
Who
am I?
|
Qui
suis-je ?
|
A
dictionary
|
Un
dictionnaire
|
|
