Talk Six Impossible Things
summary
Covers six concrete impossibilities: finite computer representations (IEEE 754 and an actual binary-search overflow bug from adding high+low), limits of computability and Gödel/halting, uncertainty in distributed systems with CAP theorem tradeoffs, broken time epochs (31 Dec 1969 / 1970 and the 2038 limit), concrete experiments porting permutation and bogo sort in Kotlin and chasing ChatGPT hallucinations, and why estimates, states, and “technical debt” cannot be precisely quantified — with code, tool names, surprising dates and failures, and tested outcomes.
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chapters (13)
- 0:00Introduction
- 3:14Infinite Representations
- 5:57Perfect Arithmetic
- 13:35Definitive Answers
- 20:24Algorithmic Certainty
- 25:46Esoteric Sorting
- 33:36Halting Problem
- 35:56Establishing Truth
- 42:09Measuring Engagement
- 45:32Predicting the Future
- 50:54Quantifying Value
- 54:04Distributed Systems
- 59:49Technical Debt
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