A hypothetical question about a universal book

[phisrow]

Say I give to you a book, with the following properties(yes, they seem unrealistic. Don't whine, this is hypothetical.):

The book has a beginning, an end, and can be opened at any point in the middle, as you desire.

The book contains all possible texts, of 1,000 pages or less, written in any western language.

These texts are arranged in a fixed pattern. Any page you open to will always be the same.

There is no index.

Any given page you turn to always contains the text that it ought to according to the book's pattern; but any pages you are not looking at may or may not contain text until you are looking at them(Though it is predetermined what text they will contain when you do look).

Question:

The book contains many texts that have never been written or published elsewhere, it also contains historical descriptions, descriptions of the future, and of future scientific advances. Can the book's author be said to have written these?

Does it matter whether or not the author of the book knew all the languages that the book contains?

 

[JSFLY]

A chicken lives high in the mountains and studies kungfu with a kung fu master. He has lived for centuries and knows every martial art in the world. He can be considered the most dangerous chicken in the world.

Question:

What color is the chicken's feathers?

 

[Turin39789]

I believe the answer is to lay off the egg nog.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: JSFLY
A chicken lives high in the mountains and studies kungfu with a kung fu master. He has lived for centuries and knows every martial art in the world. He can be considered the most dangerous chicken in the world.

Question:

What color is the chicken's feathers?

He has none, he's old and they all fell out.

 

[shortylickens]

Why do I get the feeling he's about to try and convert us to Christianity?

 

[JSFLY]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: JSFLY
A chicken lives high in the mountains and studies kungfu with a kung fu master. He has lived for centuries and knows every martial art in the world. He can be considered the most dangerous chicken in the world.

Question:

What color is the chicken's feathers?

He has none, he's old and they all fell out.

Correct! :beer:

 

[Ramma2]

Originally posted by: phisrow

Question:

Can the book's author be said to have written these?

Does it matter whether or not the author of the book knew all the languages that the book contains?

No. He transcribed them.

No. I can transcribe characters from different languages and not know what they mean.

 

[Al Neri]

You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead---your next stop the Twilight Zone

 

[Lonyo]

You can also have books which contain things not written by the editor.
The name on the spine doesn't always relate to who wrote most of the book. Translations also often have 2 contributors at least, one who translated the text, another who edited or wrote other parts of the book, like the introduction.

 

[CKent]

An ATer comes up with a ridiculous hypothetical scenario and rather than dismissing it as the brain fart it is, decides to post about it.

Q: How often does this happen?

A: Every 23 minutes on average

 

[Mucho]

I cant think I am still hungover

 

[FoBoT]

Old men and comets have been reverenced for the same reason;
their long beards, and the pretenses to foretell events.