Comments on: What assumptions make… http://remainingrelevant.net/remaining/137 Why stop dreaming when you wake up? Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:30:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Life as I Know It » Blog Archive » A Bunch of Random Stuff http://remainingrelevant.net/remaining/137#comment-1233 Life as I Know It » Blog Archive » A Bunch of Random Stuff Fri, 25 Aug 2006 01:33:54 +0000 http://localhost/remainingrelevant/?p=137#comment-1233 [...] What assumptions make. . . - from Remaining Relevant. A post about the need to challenge assumptions. [...] [...] What assumptions make. . . - from Remaining Relevant. A post about the need to challenge assumptions. [...]

]]> By: herzogbr http://remainingrelevant.net/remaining/137#comment-1232 herzogbr Thu, 24 Aug 2006 00:10:57 +0000 http://localhost/remainingrelevant/?p=137#comment-1232 I've often wondered something similar while working at my public library's reference desk. We track statistics on the number of questions asked, type of question, etc. Sometimes there's a day with only ten or twenty reference questions (which is a slow day for us), yet I'll look around and the library is full - most computers in use, comfortable chairs and work tables occupied, etc. From the people I help (or from the people who complain), I get some idea of how we're doing providing service and services. But it seems that the vast majority of patrons only interact with library staff to check books in and out, if they interact with us at all. So if we don't get input from most people, how will we ever know if we're doing a good job or providing them with what they want or need? And, on the subject of proving non-existence: it is quite an easy thing to do, as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams" rel="nofollow">Douglas Adams</a> shows in <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6251440&referer=brief_results" rel="nofollow">The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy</a>. To sum up: based on our own solar system, we know that life does not exist on every planet. Therefore, life is finite. However, since the entire universe is infinite, that means there is an infinite number of planets. So, find out how much life there is in the universe (by calculating the average amount of life per planet), we just divide the number of planets with life on them (a finite number) by the total number of planets (an infinite number). However, dividing a finite number by infinity equals zero - thus, there is no life in the universe, and so life does not existence in the universe. And if life does not exist, then certainly the needs of patrons do not exist, and my job just got a whole lot easier. Isn't that wonderful? I’ve often wondered something similar while working at my public library’s reference desk. We track statistics on the number of questions asked, type of question, etc. Sometimes there’s a day with only ten or twenty reference questions (which is a slow day for us), yet I’ll look around and the library is full - most computers in use, comfortable chairs and work tables occupied, etc.

From the people I help (or from the people who complain), I get some idea of how we’re doing providing service and services. But it seems that the vast majority of patrons only interact with library staff to check books in and out, if they interact with us at all. So if we don’t get input from most people, how will we ever know if we’re doing a good job or providing them with what they want or need?

And, on the subject of proving non-existence: it is quite an easy thing to do, as Douglas Adams shows in The Hitchhicker’s Guide to the Galaxy. To sum up: based on our own solar system, we know that life does not exist on every planet. Therefore, life is finite. However, since the entire universe is infinite, that means there is an infinite number of planets. So, find out how much life there is in the universe (by calculating the average amount of life per planet), we just divide the number of planets with life on them (a finite number) by the total number of planets (an infinite number). However, dividing a finite number by infinity equals zero - thus, there is no life in the universe, and so life does not existence in the universe. And if life does not exist, then certainly the needs of patrons do not exist, and my job just got a whole lot easier. Isn’t that wonderful?

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