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submitted 2 weeks ago by xkcdbot@lemmy.world to c/xkcd@lemmy.world

xkcd #3201: Proof Without Content

Title text:

There's also a proof without content of a conjecture without content, but it's left as an exercise for the reader.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3201/

explainxkcd for #3201

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There really is an XKCD for everything.

[-] palordrolap@fedia.io 7 points 2 weeks ago

That blank box is a proof if and only if it is a proof. That makes it a self-reference and has no truth value.

[-] this@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago

A white square still counts as content.

[-] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

I suppose a boltsman brain could come into existence with a proof of the Poincare conjecture in it's mind, then poof out of existence.

[-] wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Isn't the idea of a Boltzmann Brain not that it poofs out of existence, but that there is no way to prove that you are not a Boltzmann Brain, and all of your perceived experiences could be confabulation? In such a scenario the Brain needn't poof out of existence; merely continuing to exist for but a moment would belie the true nature of their consciousness, as the brain quickly suffocates and dies, losing its contents.

[-] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 weeks ago

I’ve heard it both ways. 

It’s far more likely you aren’t a boltsman brain and that one has never existed. 

[-] GraniteM@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

But that's not a convincing proof.

[-] SpikesOtherDog@ani.social 2 points 2 weeks ago

The proof cannot exist without the conjecture.

[-] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's the trivial proof.

[-] NachBarcelona@piefed.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

But that's both words and content. It's contradictory.

this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
220 points (99.1% liked)

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