h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Nothing - A862797
Author: santa - U183955



Due to an error I mistakenly removed this from PR, thinking it was another entry. The original thread can be found here:

F102786?thread=220179&skip=100&show=20

And I recommend reading the backlog as debate has been intense.

Many thanks for your understanding.

Ashley

I'd unsubscribed from the other thread, but seeing it re-submitted sparked my curiosity, so I've gone back and read the rest of the other thread.

Spook, you felt that the criticism you were getting was very harsh, and said that that level of criticism might drive away a newbie. I checked before posting, and at that stage you were a Scout, Guru, Ace and Post Reporter, (though you're the first Ace I've ever seen telling a helpful fellow h2g2er to f**k off ). I certainly assumed that you had enough experience here to recognise helpful criticism in the spirit in which it was meant, rather than go on the defensive.

You complained about general criticism,and wanted specific points mentioned. For me, your whole approach was so off-base that tinkering with individual points would only cause limited improvement. Still, in the interests of fairness, I'll try.

Your whole approach seems to involve the following:

A noun is a thing
A thing is an object or substance
'Nothing' is a noun
Therefore 'nothing' is an object or substance
But it has no mass! Therefore it doesn't exist! Paradox! Wow!


I know very little about philosophy, but quite a lot about English usage, and from that point of view your entry is full of holes. There are plenty of nouns which represent ideas, abstractions and concepts of all kinds.

Look at your sentence:
"Following on from this, if nothing has a zero amount of mass it is also possible it has a zero gravitational force, and perhaps is not even effected by gravity"

Just think how many nouns or noun phrases you can substitute for 'nothing'
'Freedom' has a zero amount of mass
'Beethoven's Ninth symphony' has a zero amount of mass etc. etc.

The 'existence' of an object or substance and the 'existence' of a concept or idea are quite different, but you have ignored the latter.

Also, 'nothing' is not the only concept which is defined as the absence of something else:
Silence is the absence of sound
Darkness is the absence of light
Cold is the absence of heat
Silence, darkness and cold do not exist as either objects or substances, but they are very real concepts.



Azara

"Nothing" is an abstract noun, like "Redness" isn't it?

Azara - first of, i say what i feel when i feel insulted, and i also have loads of coursework at the moment and am in the middle of my gcse mocks, so that puts a bit of stress on me. and my volunteer status has absolutely no affect on what i say or do on h2g2 as i do my volunteering and be myself, and my volunteer status has nothing to do with the way i act or feel about things.

secondly, i believe that when u said:

>"Just think how many nouns or noun phrases you can substitute for 'nothing'
'Freedom' has a zero amount of mass
'Beethoven's Ninth symphony' has a zero amount of mass etc. etc."

that doesn't really mean anything:

paint is red
nothing is red
freedom is red

i don't really see where u were going with that point, other then to show me how u are either using nothing as a pronoun and replacing it with a noun, or using nothing as a noun and replacing it with another noun, which doesn't really tell me much.

and your paradox is flawed as it makes assumptions, just as my entry does/did.

anyway, i am in the process of updating this entry anyway to make it a lot better so u'll just have to wait and see how it turns out in the end!

spook

ps. DMT - u r possibly right about nothing being an abstract noun. it certainly isn't a normal one!

Ouch!

Spook thought people were being unfairly rude before.


Auntie Azara hates nasty txt bbytlk!
Ickle spook's ickle brain knows the wight wowds!
Ickle spook's ickle fingews can weach the wight keys!
Ickle spook, oo can type pwopeh English if oo twy!


Azara

Ouch indeed

Give up Spiff. Its easier to knock down brick walls with a toffee hammer.

Stuart

Just a little query... when you say that Azara's paradox is flawed because of the assumptions it makes, just as your Entry does/did, does that mean that your Entry, because of the assumptions it makes, is also flawed?

Still confused here... Hope you could clarify this for me...

Caper Plip (slaps Ashley's wrist for having to make a new thread to replace the old one)

well, the flaw of the entry is the existence/non-exitsnec of nothing. i have begun to rectify this, but that section is not yet completed.

spook

Thanks for that

Caper Plip

Hello!.... er..

Here we are again! Maybe you should give up on this for now, spook and get on with your revision. (as could i, but nevermind ) Once you are less stressed you might understand what we are saying.

Tango

er, why do u say here we go again tango? i have said the entry is in a process of updation so...

I say here we *are* (not *go*) again, because this thread has started off exactly like the last one finished. I'm not sure what you updating it has to do with it though.

Tango

ok, i am either blind or i have the short term memory of an .

the updating entry has to do with the last bit u said which was continue with entry when ur les stressed and understand what we r sayin when i am understanding perfectly, hence the fact this entry is in a period of updation, and if that doesn't make sense, then it's because i had an eglish mock followed by a french mock and my mind is still thinking in german.

English+French=German, interesting.

I don't think you do understand, and that's my point, if you did understand then you wouldn't be arguing with us.

Tango

Instead of getting flustered trying to fight your corner here, why not remove it from PR and post in WW. It's a bit dead there, but one post per day might let you get some revision in (for mocks though?).

Trout

i want lots of posts to come to when i update the entry, and i'm not gonna bother doing uch revision for my mocks either way.

Hmmmm... mocks are very important indeed. They help denote your predicted grades which are required when applying to enter the Sixth Form, and give you an idea of what's to come in the future when you do take your real GCSEs. Personally, revising for mocks is very important, especially as the teachers have to write their reports on those and what you get on your coursework... I myself specifically took breaks from H2G2 and left my 'Pride and Prejudice' Entry floating around Peer Review because I had to revise for my mock exams (mine strangely came earlier than everyone else in the country) and I don't regret it one bit.

People will post whether you are here or not, as long as you say that you are taking time off to revise. With such a topic as 'Nothing', I'd bet that there would most certainly be a load of posts to this that you can use to aid with updating the Entry. I'd put revision in front of H2G2, certainly, in my opinion.

Caper Plip

You an undercover teacher or something?

But i do agree, this isn't ready for PR at the moment.

Tango