# People who must exist by definition, but you can never find: Who interests you most? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 25, 2026, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000 "2026-01-25T09:38:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/21 "2026-01-25T16:05:38Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > I see, I got ninja’d by @puzzlegal and @Mighty_Mouse … so maybe we could all meet up some day for a party. I’ll come too. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/22 "2026-01-25T16:25:30Z")
Me as well! ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/23 "2026-01-25T16:28:19Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > It would look a lot like ChatGPT 5.2. They would be astonishingly knowledgeable about almost everything, supremely confident in their knowledge and intelligence, and occasionally bullshit you. 😉 I know SDMB members that would be no stranger to this description … ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/24 "2026-01-25T16:30:19Z")
Last movie I saw in a theater was the original _Jurassic Park_ during its first run in \ 1993. So 32+ years ago. I’d not watched a movie on TV or streaming until 2022-24 when I sat next to my now ex-wife while she watched a couple on our TV. Haven’t had any interest in doing that since. And not due to any poisoning by association w her. They just hold zero interest for me. I suppose if I tried one now and liked it I might start going to them as I had as a teen & later in college. But they’re just completely out of sight out of mind to me. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/25 "2026-01-25T16:31:34Z")
Some current people that have been declared “smartes person on the planet”: Marilyn vos Savant [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn\_vos\_Savant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_vos_Savant) Christopher Langan [Christopher Langan - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Langan) And of course The Straight Dope founder Cecil Adams. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil\_Adams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Adams) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/26 "2026-01-25T16:38:27Z")
Marilyn vos Savant once answered a question about solar flashlights by claiming the whole idea was absurd. Well after they’d not only been invented but were commonly on sale. Count me as not impressed with her brains. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/27 "2026-01-25T16:42:54Z")
Anyone can claim to be the smartest in the world, but only one person actually is, however you decide to measure intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/28 "2026-01-25T16:49:33Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Also, **Smapti** , I, too, probably also watch only 1 movie or less per year. I last watched a movie in a theater in January 2020. In April of 2-23 I watched the then new Barbie movie with my son and daughter-in-law streamed in their home. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/29 "2026-01-25T16:53:27Z")
I must say that as a movie hound I’m surprised that there a bunch of folks here who rarely watch movies, like once a year or less. I’m totally addicted to movies, but usually don’t like going to theaters much, so it’s usually a home experience. But I’ll watch as many movies a week as I can get my paws on, sometimes double and triple features in a single sitting. It’s limited only by the availability of quality movies that interest me. There’s an enormous amount of garbage out there and my selection of movies is partly determined by having high ratings from different respected sources and critics, and partly by the subject matter. When it comes to fantasies like _Avatar_, for instance, I have no interest. James Cameron is a fine director and I was (so to speak) all on board with _Titanic_, but not this crap. I usually like reality-based movies; find me a good one and I’ll probably love it. I practically thrive on _film noir_. But there are always exceptions for fantasy films like _Bugonia_ that are truly exceptional in their creativity. I just love soaking up the make-believe land of movies as much as I can, but it has to be plausibly believable. Otherwise I may as well just watch Loony Tunes cartoons! ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/30 "2026-01-25T17:11:26Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I’ll come too. I had to go back and check which post this was a reply to. I was afraid it was about the person who masturbates the most. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/31 "2026-01-25T17:27:43Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Any other things like that that you think it’d be fun to speculate about? Slightly different from what you asked about but there’s a famous saying: > Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name I’d like to observe that moment of the “second death” for any person but especially someone of a like, lower middling level of fame. Like, the mayor of a medium sized European town from the 1700s or something. Like, I’m imagining a map of little animated red dots of everyone walking around who has some distinct memory of that person affecting their life in some way and work to actively remember that person. And you see the dots slowly snuff out one by one with occasional new dots as someone tells their kids about how the mayor once came to eat at their restaurant and told them it was the best roast beef he’s ever had or something. And like, there slowly just becomes one dot left and that dot finally disappears, I want to be in a god’s eye view above that scene viewing that moment. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/32 "2026-01-25T17:30:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’d like to meet the man who only sees one movie each year. I’m more like one per decade. Hmm, not even that. The last film I saw at a theater was “Cold Mountain”, when ever that was. I’m done. I do watch many movies one the small screen. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/33 "2026-01-25T17:35:24Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Anyone can claim to be the smartest in the world, but only one person actually is, however you decide to measure intelligence. It is possible to know everything. But it is not possible to _know_ that you know everything. So do you really know everything? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/34 "2026-01-25T17:35:29Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Any other things like that that you think it’d be fun to speculate about? Oh! More on topic: I uploaded a random selection of Youtube videos, most more than a decade ago. Some continue to get dribs and drabs of views now and then from random Youtube searches but there’s a few videos that have the exact same 100ish views for many years now. Definitionally, the last person to have ever viewed those videos had no idea they were the last person to view that video but I’d like to meet that person. I never expected people to see those videos apart from me and close friends I sent it to. What were they thinking? Did they watch it all the way through, did it leave any kind of impression on them? What stopped Youtube from ever serving it again to anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/35 "2026-01-25T17:41:30Z")
In a moment of kismet, I happened to open up this reddit post within a few minutes after seeing this thread: > **[Reddit - The heart of the internet](https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/1qlxzmt/request_is_it_even_possible_to_calculate_where_it/)** [![](https://preview.redd.it/g98qe93ixcfg1.png?auto=webp&s=39e9d7cd90509f9bfd727a0073a6a0a2d8516e9f) ](https://preview.redd.it/g98qe93ixcfg1.png?auto=webp&s=39e9d7cd90509f9bfd727a0073a6a0a2d8516e9f) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/36 "2026-01-25T17:43:10Z")
I like the mistaken capitalization and apostrophizing. Bit of a run-on sentence too. Somebody is a shitty writer. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/37 "2026-01-25T18:08:02Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > It is possible to know everything. No, it actually isn’t. Gödel proved that nearly a century ago. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/38 "2026-01-25T18:08:45Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > In a moment of kismet, I happened to open up this reddit post within a few minutes after seeing this thread: My guess is at an old but busy rest stop, or maybe one in the Pentagon or some other old office building or church or such which has been continuously in use for well over a century. Edit: someone suggested at an older airport, Atlanta Hartsfield, but that’s relatively new. LaGuardia? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/39 "2026-01-25T18:33:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@mixdenny](#): > > > > It is possible to know everything. > > No, it actually isn’t. Gödel proved that nearly a century ago. I disagree. I don’t think that Godel proved anything about what is generally referred to as “knowledge”, but rather about the intrinsic incompleteness of formal systems. Godel’s theorems, and those that followed, are all essentially about the limits of mathematical formalisms. I would argue that knowledge, in a practical sense, consists in having useful information about the world and the universe, and in particular, in having information that allows us to make useful predictions and take productive actions. From that standpoint, one could argue that if one “knew everything” about the physical universe and the laws that govern its behaviour, then determinism would put us in the awesome position of literally being able to predict the future. But we can never do that, and the man who had the most to say about that wasn’t Godel but Heisenberg. Once you get down to the quantum scale, determinism seems to disappear, and there goes our fortune-telling ability even with the most powerful imaginable information processing capability. We can only have probabilistic models. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000/40 "2026-01-25T18:52:54Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I wish there were some magic way to filter out the billions of people in the world and somehow have it all narrow down right to the one person alive who is the most romance and marriage compatible with me. You and others in this thread seem to believe that if a person is the perfect match for you, you are also the perfect reciprocal match for that person. I would not be so sure. > [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@dolphinboy](#): > > > > What would their superior intelligence look like? > > It would look a lot like ChatGPT 5.2. They would be astonishingly knowledgeable about almost everything, Knowledge and intelligence do not overlap perfectly. I would even go so far as to claim that they are independent variables. > [@mixdenny](#): > > It is possible to know everything. No it isn’t. Just ask Kurt Gödel, he’ll confirm that. (ninja’d by **Chronos** , of course. With an interesting angle added by **wolfpup**.) There must be some people alive that have written great novels, but do not want to publish them. Like Kafka once. I would like a chat with them. Perhaps I could have a peek. I promise I would not publish them posthumously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-must-exist-by-definition-but-you-can-never-find-who-interests-you-most/1027000.md?page=3)