{"id":3223,"date":"2011-10-23T20:51:03","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T00:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=3223"},"modified":"2022-11-12T23:34:54","modified_gmt":"2022-11-13T04:34:54","slug":"hilberts-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=3223","title":{"rendered":"Hilbert’s Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nuns Teach Him Tantra ⇒<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It was a raw and drizzly night in the city. I was walking along a deserted street at 2 A.M. when a sudden shift in the wind blew some cold rain in my face, putting out the Gauloise dangling from my lips. Cursing the elements, I coughed the butt out of my mouth. That\u2019s when this thought went through my brain: \u201cIt\u2019s time to give them up anyway.\u201d That thought, coming in a cadence so unlike mine, startled me. \u201cDid someone spike my cigs with hash?\u201d a thought definitely mine.
\n\"gauloise\"
\n\u201cHey kid, you gotta help me out.\u201d That intruder again. The thought was a register deeper and slower than my thoughts. Naw, it couldn\u2019t be. It must be indigestion from that goat cheese fondue I ate earlier; it didn\u2019t quite taste right — it smelled like a day at the petting zoo. \u201cGotta stop going out with college girls with portable stoves in their dorm rooms.\u201d My thought again, so reassuring. \u201cOr else go out to eat more.\u201d Not me. I stopped short. A squall breezed through my unzipped jacket, making me shiver \u2026 or so it seemed. I doubled my pace.<\/p>\n

Back in my room, I was struggling to warm up. \u201cSorry to startle you like that, son, but it hasn\u2019t been easy finding someone with your wavelength.\u201d For a moment I wondered how I could change my wavelength. Then I tried to recall all the events of the evening before. Had I taken some Kool Ade from anyone I didn\u2019t know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, kid, I\u2019m not normally so aggressive, but this is important to me.\u201d It was a moment of decision to me. Should I answer back? I mean, if no one was around to see that I was crazy, would I really be crazy? (I always resorted to philosophical conundrums when the world made no sense.)<\/p>\n

Reassuring myself that the room was not bugged, I answered back. \u201cWhat can I do for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was contemplating Hilbert\u2019s Infinite Hotel<\/a>. You remember about the innkeeper with an infinite number of rooms that happened to be all filled up? I\u2019m wondering what he would do when another guest showed up.\u201d
\n
\nI was now glad I had my own room, since I was getting sleepy. \u201cWhy is that a problem?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHilbert\u2019s solution is to move the guest in room 1 to room 2, the guest in room 2 to room 3, and so on. Then room 1 would be freed up for the new guest and all the other guests would still have a room.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thought of having to get up and move to the apartment next door sounded annoying to me. \u201cSounds reasonable to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut wouldn\u2019t it take a long time to shift all those guests?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout as long as it took to fill the hotel up in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m talking about. How would you handle it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have filled up all the odd numbered rooms. That would accommodate an infinite number of guests and I would still have an infinite number of even numbered rooms for any new guest!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, kid. I knew you were the right one to contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly relieved, I demanded, \u201cNow will you leave me alone?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlone?\u201d The voice sounded surprised. \u201cI thought you were<\/em> alone \u2013 who else is with you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The Nuns Teach Him Tantra ⇒<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I would have filled up all the odd numbered rooms. That would accommodate an infinite number of guests and I would still have an infinite number of even numbered rooms for any new guest! Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1405],"tags":[566,840],"class_list":["post-3223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hyperborean-saga","tag-hilberts-hotel","tag-hyperborean-saga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16759,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3223\/revisions\/16759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}