Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I like the comparison between the incredibly inefficient Bogosort:

    1) Shuffle the list.
    2) If it's sorted, halt.
    3) If it's not sorted, go to step 1.
and the incredibly efficient Quantum Bogosort:

    1) Shuffle the list.
    2) If it's sorted, halt.
    3) If it's not sorted, destroy the Universe.
According to the Many Worlds interpretation, step (1) creates multiple Universes, each with a different ordering of the list. Step (3) ensures that, by the anthropic principle, we must be in a Universe where the list was sorted correctly (otherwise we wouldn't be around to observe anything).


how does it destroy the universe though? I am really not very familiar with things in the quantum world and that kind of stuff.


That's an implementation detail ;)




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: