this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2024
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xkcd
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I’m not sure I get what this is saying.
Pascal was a famous thinker of their time, particularly in mathematics.
Two of the ideas they're remembered for are Pascals Triangle and Pascals Wager.
Their triangle is a helpful tool for combinations of things. Their wager is a (kinda bad in my opinion) argument for why you should believe in the Christian God.
The xkcd comic is a combination of both ideas
Ahh, so I did actually understand it... I thought for sure I was missing something since they are usually way more clever than this.
Blaise Pascal is famous for 2 things:
This triangle is computed by starting with 1 at the tip, then having each element be the some of its 2 parents (except the diagonal edges with only one parent, which remains as 1)
The natural conclusion is therefore to believe in all gods. If procelatizing happens in just the right way, and no one realizes people are talking about the same god, you end up with a triangle of polytheists, where the number of gods they believe in is given by Pascal's triangle.
Edit: gid -> god
All hail Gid!
Gid is gud
Finally something to believe in.
Thanks! I wasn’t familiar with 1.