Paper
Topological drinking problems
Published Apr 1, 2006 · Josh Parsons
Analysis
4
Citations
0
Influential Citations
Abstract
In my (2004) I argued that it is possible to drink any finite amount of alcohol without ever suffering a hangover by completing a certain kind of supertask. Assume that a drink causes drunkenness to ensue immedi ately and to last for a period proportional to the quantity of alcohol consumed; that a hangover begins immediately at the time the drunken ness ends and lasts for the same length of time as the drunkenness; and that at any time during which you are drunk you do not suffer any hangover you might have at that time. Starting at a time at which you are not drunk and not hung over, drink a half pint of beer. Wait until you are just about to get a hangover (30 minutes, say), and then drink a quarter pint. Wait until you are just about to get a hangover again, and then drink an eighth, and so on.... After an hour you have drunk a pint, and you do not have a hangover. Every hangover you incurred happened within the hour you spent drinking; but you were drunk that whole time, so you didn't suffer the hangovers. It seems that the old drunkard's method of a 'hair of the dog' can be effective in completely avoiding a hangover. Because, later on, I will need to contrast this supertask with others, it will be useful to have a more precise way of describing it one which states the pattern involved without any 'and so on's. The best way to do that is to use mathematical resources. The hangover cure can thus be described like this:
The hangover cure is to drink a pint of beer in a mathematically precise manner, avoiding all hangovers within an hour of drinking.
Full text analysis coming soon...