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

Also by the time we get to the heat death etc of the universe, some pretty chaotic stuff will have happened - its doubtful if we'll survive to know.

Isn't our galaxy on a collision course with Andromeda anyway?

Maybe, a number of galaxies are indeed colliding. Mathematically this is no problem, as the expansion of space itself on a local scale is still much smaller than the relative velocities of nearby galaxies.

Speaking for humanity it would be a case of 'we apologise for the inconvenience'

Hadn't heard that about Andromeda. Will we get near enough to communicate with people on planets there, before the ultimate gang bang?

3-d noughts and crosses is played in a 4x4x4 cube, since if its played in a 3x3x3 cube, there's a trivial first move win*; just so long as the first player to move makes no mistakes in play, they always win, just as with 2-d noughts and crosses played on a 2x2 board.

Every time you add a dimension you make the side of the squares you're playing on one more than the dimensional number.




*Want to try a game?

bottom to top = h, for height
front to back = d, for depth
left to right = w, for width

In a 3x3x3 cube, I'll make my first move an x in space h2,d2,w2, the center cube of the stack.

The centre does give a huge advantage in 2d noughts and crosses as well.

Oh and Recumbentman, the collision of our galaxy with the Andromeda one won't necessarily affect our solar system. The stars are very far apart out here in the unfashionable Orion arm.

You mean we can just move through another galaxy like so much dark matter? Surely something's got to give?

And how can you make a mistake in 2d 2x2 noughts & crosses? Your second move must win whatever it is.

I think the centres will combine and the outsides will be pulled out of shape but the Earth should keep orbiting the Sun.

In a standard 3x3, 2-d game, the result is always a draw unless one player or the other makes a mistake.

This is also the case in 4x4x4, 3-d game.

>the result is always a draw unless one player or the other makes a mistake.

That is not saying a whole lot, all the same. The same can be said for chess

Anyway I was just referring to your typo "just as with 2-d noughts and crosses played on a 2x2 board."

Wasn't a typo, just more simplistic than 3-d in a 3x3x3 space, stipulated, its impossible to make a mistake in play in the 2-d, 2x2 format.

Ah, I get it.