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Politics : Evolution
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To: Greg or e who wrote (27735)6/29/2012 1:21:18 AM
From: Solon1 Recommendation  Read Replies (1) of 69300
 
"How much does Pi weigh?"

It does not weigh a damn thing! It is a conceptual relationship. It weighs nothing at all.

Thinking about Pi, however, would involve the use of brain tissue. Brains have weight--generally speaking. For a dead brain there is no relationship of Pi. There is no cake. There are no cookies.

In the same way, it is silly to ask how much a smile weighs--or how much drag or friction hope has. Every concept or idea weighs nothing in and of itself. Thinking is a complex operation in which the brain utilises sensory impressions and stored data to interact with the world. The act of thinking involves the transfer of energy through matter (and of matter through energy).

When a computer speaks a word or displays a picture or performs any other act (such as writing) it is utilizing energy to do so. All of those "displays" have weight. But if the computer defines a conceptual relationship (say Pi)--that does not give the relationship any weight. It is the display which has mass and energy. And the display can present in infinite variety without changing the actual integrity or nature of the pixels. Just so our brains express ideas developed through billions of years of adaptation

Of course, a brain with very few pixels (to enjoy an analogy) is extremely limited in concept formation and other internal displays of imagination.

No matter what sort of Pi is on the computer screen. When the off switch is activated...the Pi disappears and has no attributes--not color, not dimension, and not weight.
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