Randall Munroe is an American cartoonist, engineer and author of book "What if" - Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. His book got many great reviews for example from New York Times and it is also one of the favourite Bill Gates book. In this video you can find three types of insane questions and some answers for them.
Did you have some ridiculous questions like that ? What was that ?
What do you think about Google's case presented in the video ?
Have you heard about this author or his book ? Would you like to read it or recommend it ?
Comments
If we would bend our knees in opposite direction, how would chairs look like?
2. What do you think about Google's case presented in the video ?
It was funny and overwhelming at the same time. Number of data you need to connect to at least make an estimation is riddiculus.
3. Have you heard about this author or his book? Would you like to read it or recommend it?
Never heard of him beofre, but if I would get his book as a present let's say it would be nice to read it in peace and learn a thing or two.
The case of Google shown in the video blew my mind. I mean, the amount of factors you’ve got to put into consideration to estimate REALLY roughly their data possession is just ridiculous, and the rough amount of it is even more ridiculous itself. He said something about roughly 15 exabytes of data, which considering a standard PC has a terabyte of hard drive space, is about 15 million PCs. The investigation and the maths behind it are really impressive, but the fact how much data Google possesses right now is even more impressive to me. And well, I guess his thinking made me do my own calculations.
I haven’t heard about this author or his book, but now I’m sure I’d love to read it. It might be the type of knowledge you don’t really need in your life, but it sure is very entertaining!
Hmm, how long would it take for ice to evaporate in the core of the earth?
2.
It was interesting, I loved the analytical approach of Randall to this problem, the answer wasn't in fact that practical, but it was fun to see the train of thought that led to it. Also, it was a pleasant surprise that google has answered him in a equally fun way.
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Yes, I've used to read xkcd extensively when I was a teenager and it was my favourite webcomic, also I always smirk when I see an xkcd comic in the wild. However I didn't read his book, yet.
Nice one! To be honest it is quite hard and interesting question. The one thing I know for sure is that we could still have chair with leg rest. ;)
The cookie case is always on point! :P
Yes, as you said maybe it is not a type of knowledge that you really need but still you can see some different perspective and insane way of thinging with matematical sollutions.
Oh I didn't know about existence xkcd. I choose this video because i knew the author. If you liked xkcd probably you will love his book. There is a lot of interesting cases like for example "Is it possible to build a jetpack using downward firing machine guns?" etc. :)
2. They really have an enormous amount of data. And yeah, maybe, there will be interesting to figure out the number of data centres using pizza delivery companies bills. And also I would not like to be under all those punch cards.
3. I think I have seen that video a long time ago but I still don't know anything about its author or his book. Except he's probably intelligent, well-rounded and has a sense of humour.
If you liked this video and the conception about it probably you will also enjoy his book. It looks a little bit like i am promoting this man but i read his book and it was quite good. :)
My questions are more abstract like what if I could turn back time, what mistakes I would fix? How it would possibly affect the space-time and would there be any side effect issues?
2. What do you think about Google's case presented in the video ?
The question itself is funny, but I admire the approaxh the speaker uses to solve mathematicaly the issue. Everything makes sense and is a result of pure calcutations and data searching. I really like Google as a company because they support those kind of projects. And they fact that they even took their time to answer for his article with a small equation code is impressive.
3. Have you heard about this author or his book ? Would you like to read it or recommend it ?
I have heard about this book before. My history teacher recommended me to purchase it, and I actually did it just after watching this talk. There is a second book of his calles "How to" and he shows how to solve daily issues in the most impractical and irrelevant scientific way.
Unfortunately I don't have any ridiculous question at the time.
2. What do you think about Google's case presented in the video ?
It was fun to watch, and the estimation of how much space the data would take was just staggering.
3. Have you heard about this author or his book ? Would you like to read it or recommend it ?
It's the first time I've heard of the book and it's author, but the video got me interested in it, and I will definitely check it out.
I like how he is dedicted to solving such a problem, apart from the punch card story, trying to estimate some internal company metric and doing it with so little data is pretty impressive but also a valuable skill.
Yes, I’ve heard about Randall Munroe’s books, I have not read any yet, but they are on my reading list. He is also an author of funny comics I recommend; you can find them at xkcd.com
I can't think of anything ridiculous enough right now.
2. What do you think about Google's case presented in the video ?
It was interesting problem, but I'd like to see his calculations, because I feel like it's really hard to solve that problem and I'm afraid that his estimations may be very inaccurate. I'm also quite surprised that he took his time to calculate this.
3. Have you heard about this author or his book ? Would you like to read it or recommend it ?
It's the first time that I've heard of him, but when I googled his name I found out that he's the author of xkcd comics that I recognize (although I didn't even know their name was xkcd). I find these comics fun, so I guess that his book could be interesting.
I don't really have these kinds of questions but I surely can find some if I put some effort because I think some of these questions are asks as a joke and the people asking them are just messing around.
2. What do you think about Google's case presented in the video?
Google's case is hilarious, because like I said these kinds of questions are just a simple joke and Google made theirs but because they are scientific they made the joke in a scientific manner, which made it more fun because it wouldn't be that funny if Google would have just commented "No Comment".
3. Have you heard about this author or his book? Would you like to read it or recommend it?
Unfortunately, I have never heard of him or this book but it definitely seem interesting. I am not planning to read it because I don't find it to be my type but I can recommend it to someone who I believe might like it.