/lit/ - Literature

>>11035798
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race

>>11035798
Children of Time

>>11035798
lem - solaris
lem - his master's voice
watts - blindsight

>>11035958
Seconding Lem

adding Forward's Dragon's Egg

>>11035798
I don't get this image

why would the alien use arabic numerals that clearly are meant for base 10 to describe his base 4? How can it only know that 10 is the "end" of single digit numbers, while not knowing what 4 is?
>oh but it's saying one-zero
that's not how it's conveyed on the image

>>11036005
>that's not how it's conveyed on the image
it is, integers are never separated with any symbols when they're used in different base number systems(except for spaces sometimes used in binary to denote sets of eight bits)
so in the comic we don't know if they're saying one-zero or "ten", the ambiguity is the joke
the fact that an alien is using arabic numerals is a premise for the joke that has to be accepted (suspension of disbelief)

>>11036034
Alright. Wtf is base one-zero then?

Clearly the astronaut said base ten. Nobody says base one-zero, so the alien couldn't have misunderstood him.

>>11036052
no anon you're misunderstanding
the joke is in how the reader perceives the numbers written, you don't know whether "one-zero" or "ten" is being said, because the dialogue is written down not spoken
your IQ is just to high i guess

>>11036060
The joke doesn't work, it's attempting to be smart while not making logical sense. If it was written down as it was said it would be even more nonsensical.

>There are one-zero rocks.
>Oh, you must be using base four. See, I use base ten.
>No, I use base ten. What is base four? (No I use base one-zero? Then why would he only ask about base four, and not also about base ten?)
>Every base is base one-zero. I am smart.

>>11036070
You are really dumb, man. They are not pronouncing numbers/digits. THEY ARE WRITTEN. THAT'S THE JOKE. So your whole argument about him saying ten/four is invalid, because he is not saying anything. Go back to red dit.

>>11036086
If even reading a joke breaks it, it's not a very good joke. That was my point, thank you for admitting it. Now go back to xkcd

>>11036070
>>No, I use base ten. What is base four? (No I use base one-zero? Then why would he only ask about base four, and not also about base ten?)
>>Then why would he only ask about base four, and not also about base ten?
t h a t ' s . t h e . j o k e

>>11036100
where's the funny bit

>>11036106
the confusion created within you inner monologue as you question how 10 is meant to be read out in the context of the comic

>>11036112
do I have to do comp sci to find that funny, or is watching neil datass tyson enough

>>11036117
look man im not saying it's hysterical but there is that moment of "oh i get it" that makes it somewhat funny

thats not even a fucking joke its just really smart

>>11035798
Post more pics like this

>>11035798
>>11036160

>>11036117

>neil datass tyson

kek

>>11036052
>Nobody says base one-zero

Not him but I do all the time

>>11035798
>Every base is base 10.

The unary numeral system is the bijective base-1 numeral system. It is the simplest numeral system to represent natural numbers:[1] in order to represent a number N, an arbitrarily chosen symbol representing 1 is repeated N times.[2] For examples, the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... would be represented in this system as[3]

1, 11, 111, 1111, 11111, ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unary_numeral_system

>>11036207
xkcd btfo again

>>11036207
way to ruin the party, anon...

>>11036154

>>11036117
>being this much of a brainlet

>>11036207
negative numbers are probably -1111111111
but what is 0 is it ""?

>>11036267
do you know what natural numbers are you fucking retard

>>11036052
>>11036070
Any number system is "base-10".
It just depends on what number "10" actually is.
Ten is base-ten is "10".
Four in base-four is "10".
Two in base-two is "10".
That's it, really.

>>11036322
>Ten is base-ten is "10".
>Four in base-four is "10".
>Two in base-two is "10".

I notice how you formatted that post, it's not like that in the comic at all, according to them it should be:

>10 is base-10 is "10".
>10 in base-10 is "10".
>10 in base-10 is "10".

it's unintentionally idiotic

>>11035958
Solaris was the first thing I thought of when I saw this.

Some of Vandermeer's stuff gets close to this, but not quite.

>>11036332
that's because the alien in the comic actually uses base 4 daily as his species has 4 fingers. are you the same autist from above, somehow still not getting it?

>>11036351
I get it, you don't get how the misunderstanding in the dialogue would have never taken place

>>11035798
Can't this be solved by not referring to counting systems by their base unit? Just call it base-human or base-lmao. 10lmao is 4human.

>>11036332
retard

>>11036372
for anyone who didn't get it

>>11036359
nah, you don't get it. you're the tard going "but a REAL conversation with a space alien would not go like that!" when the whole point of the joke is the discrepancy between speech and writing that generates the misunderstanding. it's a meta joke that depends on the medium in which it's being told, like when in frogs by aristophanes dionysus says "isn't this part of hades supposed to be full of murderers?" and his slave points to the audience. no, the conversation would not go like that "really", it's a theatrical joke that only works in a theatre just like op's comic only works as a comic and not "in reality".

the fact that instead of getting all this instantaneously and smiling you started angrily simulating encounters with alien life in your head is clear evidence of brain problems.

>>11036359
The joke is that you can't learn another language through your own language, otherwise you're just learning a nested version of that language and not the language itself, which leads to problems like in the comic.

Should be illegal to post here without having read Quine.