The Litter Box

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Sarov

1:38 PM

Morning.

C.Koca

2:16 PM

@Sarov Top of the afternoon to you too!

Sarov

What if I want the middle instead?

C.Koca

2:30 PM

too many lewd jokes

control yourself C.Koca

Sarov

2:51 PM

Don't think I want to know.

Journeyman Geek

3:13 PM

MAY YOUR DAY BE IN THE MIRK OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT!

Sarov

3:23 PM

Technically all tunnels are bottomless pits.

I'm holding a bottomless pit in my hand.

Elmy

3:41 PM

May your day be spherical, with a light source moving through the sky

@Sarov Hmmmm... according to your logic every human is a bottomless pit...

Sarov

Well... Yes, I suppose they are.

Sarov

3:57 PM

Think about it, though.
Is a tunnel going through the centre of the earth, from the north to south pole, a bottomless pit? I assume yes.
Does the material of the tunnel circumference, whether rock or metal or plastic or flesh, matter? I assume no.
Does it matter if there are some obstructions, as long as it's not air-tight? I assume no.
What if we move the tunnel 100 m to the east? I assume it's still a tunnel.
What if we keep moving it, to the point it's only a foot long, close to the equator? I assume it's still a tunnel/bottomless pit. There's no cutoff point, induction works.

I think the only potentially shaky assumption there is "Does it matter if there are some obstructions, as long as it's not air-tight?", without which a human and a pen are not bottomless pits, but a roll of toilet paper still is.

3 hours later…

Sarov

6:42 PM

The last message was posted 3 hours ago.

C.Koca

7:26 PM

@Sarov tunnel through the center of the Earth is not bottomless

Sarov

Your reasoning?

C.Koca

It has a bottom in the middle, so if you throw a particle it will be doing harmonic motion centred at the centre of the Earth

Sarov

Oof, so you're using a gravitational definition of 'bottom'.

C.Koca

Of course, otherwise any boundary could be bottom.

Why not ceiling?

It also offers bounce back

Sarov

Google's dictionary has failed me.

Bottom:
> the lowest point or part of something.

Low:
> of less than average height from top to bottom or to the top from the ground.

That's a circular definition!

C.Koca

7:30 PM

lowest point of pole to pole tunnel wrt earth surface: centre of the Earth

Sarov

Wrt earth's surface, yes. But who says you have to define it relative to that?

C.Koca

any ground level is arbitrary, so why not earth's surface?

Sarov

I'm pretty sure you don't need gravity for all definitions of 'bottom'. If a cardboard box were floating in space with a 'this side up' arrow written on it, I think most people would agree the box has a bottom.

C.Koca

it at least offers some symmetry

@Sarov this side is up arrow defines the top so the opposite direction automatically becomes bottom

Sarov

Exactly.

C.Koca

7:33 PM

unless the box is non-binary

Sarov

Assume cube. Or cylinder.

C.Koca

@Sarov I mean people would agree that it has a bottom because the box says "I have a top"