Ooh, I wonder if this is just a goofy stock photo, a sincere attempt to measure the length of a coastline, or an illustration of the difficulty of that task.

[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Sincere attempt to measure the length of a coastline?

[–] dontbelievethis@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 weeks ago

Jupp. And he completely nailed it.

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Is that your guess, or are you puzzled by the concept?

[–] Pyro@programming.dev 16 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Measuring a coastline creates a well known paradox: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox

[–] TheBeege@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I learned a thing. Thank you.

I argue that this is due to the poor definition of a coastline. I don't know why. I go into problem solving mode, and I'm like... yeah... poorly defined problem. Root cause found... uhh... now what. Coastline starts at where water reaches only high tide? No. Continental shelf? Certainly not. Point where building foundations are no longer stable? Maybe, but I don't know enough... yet.

.... is this ADHD? Seriously, my psychiatrist thought I was right on the border. I dunno

Edit: I'm dumb and misunderstood the problem. Disregard me

[–] LongLive@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Hey, there. I see you are pedal-to-the-metal-awkward-stream-conciousness, I will need to see a license for that.

[–] cyrano@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

Wow 😮

[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

I don't like to get reminded that never have the right measurement of things

[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I forgot the "are you serious".

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I am. How else would you measure a coastline? The exact line is constantly changing with waves and the tide, so to get any kind of answer requires that you decide where the coastline is and mark it somehow. Driving nails into the waterline at the same water level and adding up the distances between them isn't really a bad approach.

[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You don't need to mark things to measure them, especially when they change far faster than how long the marking takes.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I recommend reviewing the coastline paradox. It's an interesting problem.

[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I know. That does not make it better. How could this be serious?

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

I'm really not sure you understand the concept. Maybe think on it a bit?

[–] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Somebody's gonna have to go back and get a shitload of nails.