Quote:
Originally Posted by TGS
Saying "everything" emphatically doesn't clarify what it refers to - is "everything" like everything in your pocket in the sense that there is a set of things in your pocket which is a closed set and which is in principle knowable, or is it like everything in your pocket in the sense that there is an open set of things in your pocket about which we cannot be certain whether at any point we can know whether the set is approaching completeness?
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Well, what there is in my pocket is made of a lighter, an handkerchief, and two coins. When I say everything in my pocket, I intend these 4 objects.
When I say everything with nothing added to it nor implied in the contest, I imply an abstraction that is quite difficult to put in words, in reasoning, in algorithms, in whatever. An all encompassing abstraction. Dangerous? Oh yes. Metaphorically dangerous, mind you.
So when you go to a restaurant and you ask your date what she wants to eat and she answer everything, you should just leave and maybe change town, or call GhostBusters.
