bungula comments on Rationality Quotes December 2011 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Jayson_Virissimo 02 December 2011 06:01AM

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Comment author: bungula 30 November 2011 04:22:08PM 9 points [-]

The Doctor: The security protocols are still online and there's no way to override them. It's impossible.

River: How impossible?

The Doctor: A few minutes.

-Doctor Who, Season 5, Episode 5

Comment author: wedrifid 01 December 2011 05:30:34AM *  3 points [-]

I love the quote. The Doctor is badass. But ultimately this seems to be a quote about misusing the word 'impossible' - totally out of place in this thread!

Comment author: bungula 02 December 2011 12:17:01PM 4 points [-]

I see it as taking the Outside View on impossibility. Of course, in real life it usually takes more than a few minutes, but in the Whoniverse it is not unreasonable. Also, asking "How impossible?" seems to me like a good question in some cases.

Comment author: wedrifid 02 December 2011 03:00:02PM *  6 points [-]

I see it as taking the Outside View on impossibility. Of course, in real life it usually takes more than a few minutes, but in the Whoniverse it is not unreasonable. Also, asking "How impossible?" seems to me like a good question in some cases.

So long as it is kept in mind that "How impossible?" is merely a more polite and less coherent way of replying "Bullshit. How difficult is it really?".

Comment author: brilee 02 December 2011 02:29:41PM 1 point [-]

I believe it's a bit of metahumor/sarcasm aimed at this plot device:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MillionToOneChance

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