# Novel Matter

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-matter/674369>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 20, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-matter/674369 "2013-11-20T18:58:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-matter/674369/21 "2013-11-21T10:38:08Z")

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> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> It’s the Wittgenstein’s sheep debate.
> 
> Ludwig Wittgenstein was supposedly giving a lecture and began to outline a mathematical procedure by saying “Let us assume X is the number of sheep in a flock…”
> 
> And one of the students raised his hand and asked, “But what if X isn’t the number of sheep?”
> 
> Wittgenstein later said he spend years thinking about this and never could decide if that was the stupidest question or the most profound question he ever heard.

That certainly has the stink of apocrypha about it.

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**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-matter/674369/22 "2013-11-21T11:09:07Z")

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All this talk about discovered integers reminds me of that fun fact I shared on the dope a while back about [wisserteen](https://www.google.com/#filter=0&q=wisserteen&safe=off).

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-matter/674369/23 "2013-11-21T11:12:34Z")

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> [@njtt](#):
>
> That certainly has the stink of apocrypha about it.

That’s why I said “supposedly”. But regardless of whether or not the incident actually happened in history, the philosophical point remains.

My own personal opinion is that it’s important to question your premises. But you can take it too far - if you keep questioning the truth of next level after next level, you’ll reach the point where there can’t be truth or falsehood because there’s no meaning left. You need to stop at some level, accept that these things are true, and begin building up from there.

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**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novel-matter/674369/24 "2013-11-21T12:56:09Z")

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> [@drewtwo99](#):
>
> All this talk about discovered integers reminds me of that fun fact I shared on the dope a while back about [wisserteen](https://www.google.com/#filter=0&q=wisserteen&safe=off).

I really like the idea of _dwarf numbers_ that **Boyo Jim** [came up with](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15495821&postcount=211) in that thread.

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