Just been musing about this on the train home. There are two parts of the system an ideal lamp and a clock generator. The clock generator is what is interesting and it is implementing a pulse train representing zeno's paradox. The clock generator will fail in the time quanta just prior to two minutes. Either by exploding/divide by zero or whatever depending on how its implemented. The lamp state then is the same as the output of the failed clock generator ie. Not defined. Your assumption "Yet the clock runs" is a red herring - the clock only runs until a point after which it is undefined. If you wish to alter the rules (ie. it does continue running - you are defining new behaviour not seen in our world and therefore you must specify it just as you have with the behaviour of the lamp).
Can you tell that I'm a software engineer :-) cheers mark ps. what is this list I didn't know I was subsribed to it and have no memory of doing so (although I must have done) ________________________________ From: Norman Samish [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 20 October 2003 08:07 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Thompson's Lamp Welcome, I've been looking for an idiot savant to answer this question: Perhaps you've heard of Thompson's Lamp. This is an ideal lamp, capable of infinite switching speed and using electricity that travels at infinite speed. At time zero it is on. After one minute it is turned off. After 1/2 minute it is turned back on. After 1/4 minute it is turned off. And so on, with each interval one-half the preceding interval. Question: What is the status of the lamp at two minutes, on or off? (I know the answer can't be calculated by conventional arithmetic. Yet the clock runs, so there must be an answer. Is there any way of calculating the answer?) Norman ----- Original Message ----- From: incarn81 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2003 11:36 PM Subject: Joining Hello I'm mainly an idoit, sometimes a savant. I get most of the references that I've read so far, but don't really have a deep technical background in any one area. Can't wait to catch up on the archives!
