[blitzball]

I like the writings of Arthur Clarke, but I must confess, this story never made sense to me. How could simply compiling a list of names bring about the end of the world? Didn't the names already exist as ideas even before they were printed on paper? Why would printing all of them on paper make any difference?

On a side note: how fast could a quantum computer generate the list using qubits?

[em-bee]

my theory is that it's not the existence of the names or printing them that matters, but humanities awareness of them, that is a human mind reading and processing them. just like the apple always existed in paradise, but only biting into it caused adam and eve to be expelled.