1w ago

How about the digestive system?

168 comments

The colloquial meaning is different from a topological definition. Anything with a through-hole has a hole at each end. It's an ambiguous question because the answer depends whether you're referring to a openings in the face of the object (a cylinder in the case of a straw) or the void connecting the surface openings. Perhaps the safest answer is inclusive, so three. I've been told I'm not fun at parties.
- You could make infinite indentations in an object with zero holes. That's a very poor definition for a hope topologically.
  
  I'll give it a try and get back to you
  
  And yet each indentation could hold something, like cheese or a kitten, so each indentation in functionally different from a smooth surface.
  Deforming a shape changes it, thus topology is a special case of specifically ignoring most aspects of a shape.
  
  But it's a good definition if you are, say, putting a thing into each indentation. That's why the two definitions are different.
  
  Openings and indentations aren't the same thing though, are they?
- It’s ok, the people who tell you that weren’t invited to any of the parties either.
- That's right you're not let me help:
  "The ~~colloquial~~ cloaca meaning is different from a ~~topological~~ Topsy-turvy definition. Anything with a through-hole has a hole at each end^snickering. It's an ~~ambiguous~~ GAY question because the answer depends whether you're referring to a openings in the face of the object^{more-snickering} ~~(a cylinder in the case of a straw)~~^{obviously-unnecessary} or the void connection the surface openings. Perhaps the ~~safest~~ most radical answer is inclusive, so three. I've been told I'm ~~not~~ fun at parties.'
- I love the unabashed sharing of topical knowledge, so you're welcome to my party.

A straw has 1 hole that goes all the way through.
- The disk has two holes separated by a lesser distance
  
  Not if it's 2D
- So do you
  
  This is Crohn's erasure.
  
  No I got more. My anatomy is special
- So, infinite holes. Just like a line has infinite points. And, a longer straw has a bigger infinite number of holes.

Two people kissing make a single continous tube going from one anus to the other
- Great now I need a new folder.
- hehe kinky

I mean no matter how you look at it it's just the one hole.
In fact, all holes are the same hole.
If you think about it.
- That's what my uncle said.
  
  The mother of all holes.
  The motherhole if you will.
- Tell that to my wife
  
  Courtesy of the internet
- So oral and anal are fucking the same hole and pussy is not a real hole.
  
  The pussy's more of a pit than a hole.
  But yes, anal and oral are the same hole.
- Theres just one thing, and one way to look a the thing, which is the thing itself.
  
  Das Ding an sich!
- I like to think that all our holes are connected in a way
  Not like a human centipede though

Who the fuck thinks that a straw has 2 holes?
- How many holes do you got @NachBarcelona@piefed.social?
  
  I think topologically I have only those:
  Mouth to ass (oh yeah)
  Left nostril
  Right nostril
  Left Eustachian tube
  Right Eustachian tube
  Right tear duct
  Left tear duct
  No piercings or anything, so that's it.

A straw has one hole that is open to two entrances. Like a single tunnel. We never say that a tunnel has two holes.
- A tunnel has two holes.
  
  We mustn't say that. It is forbidden.
- I got a T shaped cat tunnel. It's got two holes. I think. Topology can go suck a lemon
  
  Still one hole unless there's isolated sections
  
  Which is why I said SINGLE tunnel.

Topologically, people are toroids.
- Vsauce

This suggests the reverse is true, that every hole is at minimum a tube.
I'm throwing out all my cups today. I'll jut drink from my plates.
- also, cups and plates are not equal topologically, because a cup has handle with a hole in it, and plate doesn't
  
  So we finally realise that the topological notion of "hole" doesnt really capture the natural language concept of a hole.
  
  Not all cups have that. I would consider that more a mug.
- welcome to topology

Ehh. I'm not sure it's very constructive to make a topological argument from a debate people usually think about as a linguistic one.
- I like to think of this particular example as a sort of reminder that we need to be specific on what grounds we are arguing. Colloquially, and for the sake of practicality, the straw has two holes. You would one hole or the other is in the drink, or clogged. But topologically, yes, there is only one hole.
- Except maybe to illustrate the necessity of various disciplines, as this is a maths problem and not a linguistics one.
  Arguing the linguistics of this is like arguing over astrology.
- But saying that to make a hole in a sphere, you need to make two holes in the sphere is funny.
  
  Very good observation. Now what about a hollow sphere?
- Fields dont need to be that isolated. In the end its arbitrary, so why not accept arguments of all perspectives?
- In germany we say alles hat ein Ende nur die Wurst hat zwei

Vsauce, Michael here.

A straw has 1 hole with two ends... this is dumb

So, I kinda just woke up from a nap and my still confused mind thought the meme said the straw had four holes.

Got it, a CD has 2 holes as well.
- What the heck is a CD?
  
  Certificate of Deposit

A straw has zero holes. It's just a flat piece of plastic wrapped around and attached to itself. Ain't nobody drilling holes through plastic to make straws.
- Try that argument with your local topologist
  
  Depends whether or not you consider the fastening of a surface to itself to be a real change to the topology.

Am I.....Hole?
- No, you are hansolo, with holes.
  
  Greedo shot first!
  
  Holesolo
- Well, pretty much every animal is merely a digestive tract with ever more elaborate ways of funneling food in one end and get rid of the waste at the other.

Technically, the digestive system (i.e., the full gastro intestinal tract) is considered as part of the "outside" of the body, acting as an external surface similar to the skin. The space that an object can travel through without crossing a cell membrane or entering blood or tissue is called "lumen". So the same intuition as in the meme actually holds true here, too.

that meme format makes me feel old... I used to see it in like 2008 👴
- But this one seems to be updated for some reason? The bottom spit take reaction is not the original.
  
  You're right! But from what I could find, the fake version started circulating less than a year after the original, so I honestly can't remember which one I've seen more over the years. I didn't even notice there were multiple versions lol.

We have a pee hole and a poo hole and a mouth hole and a nose hole do really we've got a few holes going on there
- We have a massive amount of holes in our bodies. Those are just the most major holes. It comes down to what you consider a hole. Is a mouth a hole okay but what about small pours that open and close? Tear ducts would be in the definitely hole category you never think of those.
  
  Oh god we're just flesh sieves
  
  Sometimes I tell my girlfriend I'm going to use every hole she has, then try to stick it up her nose. Now I realize I can get way more creative.

How about the digestive system? I'm pretty sure the stomach forms a break
- duodenum
- There's valves before and after the stomach yeah. Are we donuts when those are open or jelly donuts when they're closed? When am I a cruller or cronut?
- Nah it doesn’t

I was making a minnow net to catch baitfish for my son. To make a cone you need a half circle of material out of mesh.
Now in a 2D world the where there is no thickness this would be correct, if material can be added to fill gaps.
In a 3D world, any round object with a hole and some thickness could be a straw. A washer is a straw by this logic

At step 4 it is not a straw anymore..
- at step 2 it's not a staw anymore, that's a narrow funnel.

Wait this is only one hole?
- Yes it is a hole in one.
  I will remove myself from the premises.

laughs in klein bottle

If a flat disc has no holes, how many holes does the surface of a sphere have?

I like eating

It still has two holes compared to a sphere, and that is our usual frame of reference.

There is a great sauce video about this: https://youtu.be/egEraZP9yXQ

After it's flat it's ready to be made into a coffee cup
- No, that's a punctured disk, you're thinking of a torus.
  Edit: After dusting off my old-ass-hasn't-been-in-uni-for-10-years-brain, I've concluded the straw shown in the image is NOT a punctured disk, it's a closed annulus. It's still not a coffee mug and you're still thinking of a torus but I don't wanna go around spreading wrong math.

you are what you eat: a donut
or sth
- Nah, there’s like 11 to 14 macroscopic holes in my body. You just can’t get a dick in most of them.

Good fucking science meme!

if you food poisoning you will be exiting out of both holes.
- Fun fact: the alimentary canal is one long tube, like a straw. At one end of the alimentary canal is your mouth. At the other end is your asshole.
  /FunFact

If I'm not mistaken a human has 7 topological holes by default but not 100% sure

I hate this faulty logic. Of course there are two holes. Look, plug one end and do the unfold method in the comic again so instead of one hole in the center, it's just a solid disk. Does that mean if the straw is plugged at one end there are zero holes? Of course not.
- I mean, you plugged the hole..
  
  When companies drill for oil, are they not drilling holes because only one end is open?

168 comments