Memestrats4life t1_itzyi3w wrote
Reply to comment by NiuMeee in Every language travels at the speed of sound, except sign language that travels at the speed of light by _somename_
It was just a hypothetical- until we started adding real calculations in; then you have to account for the fact that it's all meaningless
Muroid t1_itzzmox wrote
You can hypothetically measure the time it would take sound to travel through air a distance equivalent to the distance from the Earth to the moon even if it would not be possible for sound to actually travel from the real moon to the real Earth.
Memestrats4life t1_itzzq8t wrote
Or you can hypothetically be correct and save time
YookCat t1_iu09dnh wrote
I don’t think you understand the point of hypotheticals. They’re not meant to be taken literal. It’s more of a wisdom check as opposed to an intelligence check, honestly.
It wouldn’t save time to just say the sound can’t make it, either. Even if we were doing things your way… that proceeds to leave the original premise of the hypothetical unsolved, meaning we would need to make an entirely new hypothetical to demonstrate the sound/light speed difference. If we take everything literally, it takes us more time.
Additionally, just in case you think hypotheticals are useless entirely and we should just say the facts, helping people “visualize” things is a part of the point. Examples, demonstrations, and so on are ways of teaching things, which is similar to what this hypothetical was attempting to achieve.
Memestrats4life t1_iu09x0q wrote
I see that- and do enjoy your wisdom/intelligence point- but think that dedicating time to finding exact mathematical answers to them while disregarding the most major aspect of those calculations is pointless
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments