You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

Banno's Game.

Banno December 24, 2019 at 04:34 11650 views 101 comments
Here's a game about the philosophy of mathematics.

Players take turns to add rules.

Your turn.

Comments (101)

jgill December 24, 2019 at 04:40 #365660
The sum of any two integers is zero.
creativesoul December 24, 2019 at 04:46 #365662
So much for that.
Pfhorrest December 24, 2019 at 05:43 #365666
The product of any two integers is omega. (Where omega is the first number bigger than any integers).
I like sushi December 24, 2019 at 06:25 #365670
No two rules can be combined and none can be used more than once.
Harry Hindu December 24, 2019 at 13:36 #365710
Banno subtracts 50% of his dough and adds it to my dough. It's a rule. Give up your dough, Banno.

frank December 24, 2019 at 15:11 #365718
Quoting Banno
Here's a game about the philosophy of mathematics.


Math rules are discovered, not made.
Sir2u December 24, 2019 at 23:50 #365839
Zero is the total product of one's life.
You start with it and anything added is left behind at the end.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 00:56 #365848
Quoting frank
Math rules are discovered, not made.


If it is going to be discovered, then it is covered...

And hence, it is.

Where are mathematical expressions before they are discovered?

The simple answer - they are not discovered.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 00:57 #365849
Reply to John Gill Then integers takes on a use that is peculiar to this game.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 00:57 #365850
Quoting creativesoul
So much for that.


That shows a lack of imagination.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 00:59 #365851
Reply to Pfhorrest This is inconsistent with Quoting John Gill
The sum of any two integers is zero.


So, do you choose inconsistency, or reject John Gill's formulation?
Banno December 25, 2019 at 00:59 #365852
Reply to Harry Hindu I don't bake.
Pfhorrest December 25, 2019 at 01:24 #365857
Reply to Banno I didn’t realize I was creating an inconsistency, so I leave it up to another poster (first comer) to decide to reject either my axiom or John’s.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 01:38 #365859
Reply to Pfhorrest That's a good move.

There may be a way around the inconsistency.

So we have, from @John Gill,

For any two integers a,b, a+b=0

And we have from you,

For any two integers a,b, ab = ?

(The italics indicate the special in-game nature of the word 'integer').

Now ab is just a+a+a..., b times. But substituting a for b in John's rule, a+a=0

Hence, skipping a bit, 0=?.

And hence, a+b = ?

We might treat this as a definition of integer, such that an integer is any number that, added to another integer, yields ?.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 01:42 #365860
The thread had been moved into the lounge. I've moved this back into Philosophy of Mathematics.

It's credentials as such should be evident in the content.

Also, extending the game is dependent on creativity - and hence on a large number of folk participating.

The contention here is that this game has similarities to mathematics, in that the playful creation of rules is at the core of both.

Since it is clear that this game is constructed, not discovered, the game is a rejection by example of the doctrine set out here: Quoting frank
Math rules are discovered, not made.




frank December 25, 2019 at 02:12 #365865
Quoting Banno
it is going to be discovered, then it is covered...

And hence, it is.

Where are mathematical expressions before they are discovered?

The simple answer - they are not discovered.


My rule is that they are discovered. Don't toss away my rule because of some made-up logic.
ssu December 25, 2019 at 03:00 #365882
Quoting Banno
Here's a game about the philosophy of mathematics.

Players take turns to add rules.

Your turn.

Reply to Banno

I add that there exists Absolute Infinity.

Is then ? absolute infinity or not?

(I like Banno's game :up: )

Banno December 25, 2019 at 03:02 #365883
Quoting frank
Don't toss away my rule because of some made-up logic.


I'm tossing it away because it is silly.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 03:03 #365884
Reply to ssu well,

Quoting Pfhorrest
Where omega is the first number bigger than any integers


hence we might presume a number bigger than the first number bigger than any integer.

Banno December 25, 2019 at 03:05 #365885
But can there be an integer bigger than another integer?

What does bigger look like here?
Harry Hindu December 25, 2019 at 03:09 #365887
Reply to Banno Well, what do you do so you can give half of the fruits of your labor to me?

Math games with arbitrary rules are a useful waste of time. If you really want rules, reality has some for you. For math or language to really be of any use, they need to inform and predict the world as it was, is and will be.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 03:19 #365888
Reply to Harry Hindu We choose when and where to apply the rules.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 03:21 #365889
Reply to John Gill Let's call them Gill integers.

A GIll Integer differs from other integers in that when summed, they add to zero.

Now, is there more than one Gill Integer?

Banno December 25, 2019 at 03:23 #365890
Reply to Pfhorrest

Let's call them Fhorrest Integers.

Are they the same as Gill integers?
Harry Hindu December 25, 2019 at 03:27 #365891
Reply to Banno "Rules" is probably the wrong term to use. Any mathematics without real-world applications would be the game you're looking for. Knowing how many miles to the next rest stop and how fast you are going isn't a game when you really need to empty your bladder. It produces true knowledge about you and the world. Is your game useful for anything outside of this thread?
frank December 25, 2019 at 03:38 #365892
Quoting Banno
I'm tossing it away because it is silly.


No. You're tossing it away for no reason.
jgill December 25, 2019 at 04:10 #365897
The Axiom of No Choice: For any collection of non-empty sets there is at least one way to avoid choosing an element from each set.

(This will lead to a pathological nightmare in the case of an uncountable infinity of such sets)

The Axiom of Inclusion: Given two empty sets, one is the absence of an element of the other.

:nerd:
creativesoul December 25, 2019 at 04:18 #365899
Quoting Banno
That shows a lack of imagination.


Me???

:lol:

Surely you jest. Maths are beyond my understanding. I don't want to be a bullshitter!

:wink:

I'll watch. Have fun.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 04:29 #365902
Reply to John Gill again, what does this lead to? Is it fun to play?

Some rules lead to a more interesting game.

The preference for consistency is one such rule.
Marchesk December 25, 2019 at 04:41 #365903
Let's say the rules of arithmetic are arbitrarily made up, like Banno's math game. The golden ratio is one result of arithmetic. The surprising thing is that it can be find in spiral patterns in nature. Now why might that be? Perhaps the rules or arithmetic are not so arbitrary.

Let's go back to their origins. How did humans come up with arithmetic? Probably when it became useful to track transactions and taxation. And that's not arbitrary.
jgill December 25, 2019 at 04:47 #365908
Quoting Marchesk
Perhaps the rules or arithmetic are not so arbitrary.


Hmmm. Now where did we come up with a number system base 10?

Quoting Banno
The preference for consistency is one such rule.


Are my two axioms inconsistent? :roll:

Banno December 25, 2019 at 04:59 #365911
Reply to John Gill What do you think? Can you demonstrate their consistency?
jgill December 25, 2019 at 05:08 #365915
No, no, no ......! You have challenged my axioms. The ball is in your court! :nerd:
Marchesk December 25, 2019 at 05:20 #365918
Quoting Banno
The contention here is that this game has similarities to mathematics, in that the playful creation of rules is at the core of both.


So let's try this out. I as ruler of the nearby city demand you pay a tax. I have my soldiers take three oxen out of your six. You complain that this only leaves three oxen to plow the fields. My official reply is that six minus three is five, by decree. I have only removed one of your oxen.

For some reason, that system doesn't last and is replaced by the 6 - 3 = 3 one we have today.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 05:23 #365919
Reply to Marchesk the golden ratio is one of the patterns that we found. Just like counting and stuff. Some patters are useful.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 05:24 #365920
Reply to Marchesk yep. Simple. 3+3=6. A pattern that is useful.
Marchesk December 25, 2019 at 05:27 #365921
Quoting Banno
A pattern that is useful.


Right, so is math about useful patterns, or about making up arbitrary games, like Chess and Go are made-up games with well defined rules that allow for interesting patterns?

Or maybe both.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 05:28 #365922
Reply to Marchesk same thing.
armonie December 25, 2019 at 05:30 #365923
????
Marchesk December 25, 2019 at 05:34 #365926
Quoting armonie
he patterns are forms, they are not useful, they are expressions in the extension of matter and energy.
The forms are dynamic, and they have dependence of ....time.


Shades of Heraclitus?
armonie December 25, 2019 at 05:35 #365927
?????
Banno December 25, 2019 at 05:35 #365928
Reply to armonie Nu. They are just patterns. No need for any additional metaphysics.

That’s part of the point of this approach.
god must be atheist December 25, 2019 at 07:02 #365933
Quoting Pfhorrest
I didn’t realize I was creating an inconsistency,


I don't mind your inconsistency. It is like the food I cook for my children... it has a certain uncertain flavour peppered with a consistency of indescribable inconsistency.

At least we are consistent about this.
Marchesk December 25, 2019 at 08:00 #365949
Quoting Banno
Nu. They are just patterns. No need for any additional metaphysics.

That’s part of the point of this approach.


So, the world-stuff creates patterns that we sometimes find useful and turn into mathematics and physics.
Banno December 25, 2019 at 08:14 #365953
Quoting Marchesk
So, the world-stuff creates patterns that we sometimes find useful and turn into mathematics and physics.


That says more about the world than is needed.

Stuff does stuff. We make patterns. Sometimes we read patterns into what the stuff is doing.

Less metaphysics. .
Per Chance December 25, 2019 at 08:26 #365956
This is boring.
SophistiCat December 25, 2019 at 08:28 #365959
Quoting John Gill
The sum of any two integers is zero.


What are 'integers' in your game? The way integers are usually defined/constructed, they come with addition already baked in.
Harry Hindu December 25, 2019 at 16:57 #366052
Quoting Marchesk
Let's go back to their origins. How did humans come up with arithmetic? Probably when it became useful to track transactions and taxation. And that's not arbitrary.

Thats why I proposed the rule that Banno hand over 50% of his dough. I thought we should start where the ancients did when the rules were meant to be applicable in the world.
Harry Hindu December 25, 2019 at 17:00 #366053
Quoting Banno
Simple. 3+3=6. A pattern that is useful.

Useful for what? Why is a pattern useful?
frank December 25, 2019 at 17:18 #366058
Reply to Banno Fun, useful, not silly: do you discover these things or do you declare them?

And if you discover what's not silly, where was it before you found it?

Merry Christmas! :sparkle:
jgill December 25, 2019 at 20:27 #366102
I hereby revoke my two axioms and my original frivolous statement about integers.

Happy Holidays! :nerd:
Marchesk December 26, 2019 at 00:09 #366122
Reply to Harry Hindu Ah, makes sense. I thought you were just pulling his leg.
Banno December 26, 2019 at 22:05 #366287
Quoting frank
do you discover these things or do you declare them?


I think I have to pay that.

SO maths is made up, and we find - "discover" - ways to use it.
Banno December 26, 2019 at 22:16 #366289
Quoting Harry Hindu
Useful for what? Why is a pattern useful?


Whatever you like.

Sometimes we impose.
frank December 27, 2019 at 01:17 #366316
Quoting Banno
maths is made up, and we find - "discover" - ways to use it.


Could be.
Harry Hindu December 27, 2019 at 16:33 #366445
Quoting Harry Hindu
Simple. 3+3=6. A pattern that is useful.
— Banno
Useful for what? Why is a pattern useful?


Quoting Banno
Whatever you like.

Sometimes we impose.

How is 3+3=6 useful for knowing how much of my income the government wants? If the government wants 50% of my income, do I just write 50% on a sheet of paper and then give it to the government? Are we just writing scribbles with arbitrary rules? If so, then why isn't the government content with a sheet of paper with the scribbles 50% on it? What is 50% OF something? What does the "of" mean?

Quoting Banno
SO maths is made up, and we find - "discover" - ways to use it.

The symbols are made up, but what they refer to isn't.
Banno December 27, 2019 at 22:15 #366533
meh.
Deleted User July 10, 2024 at 21:22 #916124
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
Moliere July 12, 2024 at 03:10 #916536
Reply to Deleted user

All rules prior to this post are not to be followed after this post.

All posts ought to follow the rule: share your favorite (philosopher, artist, food, or quote)
Deleted User July 12, 2024 at 10:30 #916599
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
Moliere July 13, 2024 at 00:49 #916824
Reply to Deleted user

Contradiction!

Proof:

Quoting jgill
The sum of any two integers is zero.


Quoting I like sushi
No two rules can be combined and none can be used more than once.


Quoting Deleted user
Rule 1: The sum of any two integers is 0.
unenlightened July 13, 2024 at 09:50 #916950
Reply to Moliere
Every contradiction shall be resolved both ways.
Moliere July 13, 2024 at 14:21 #916983
Reply to unenlightened

Then surely the sum of any two integers is 0, and we must accept that two rules can be combined and that all can be used more than once

Or we must never reference a previous rule to even your post, and the sum of any two integers is the sum as we understand it from the textbooks.

And, having said this, the first is the assertion, the second the negation, and now I'm wondering -- what's the negation of the negation?
Deleted User July 13, 2024 at 15:55 #917020
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
unenlightened July 13, 2024 at 16:23 #917036
Reply to Moliere It's the 'many worlds' interpretation of mathematics.

Always "and", and never "or", but also "or"... Etc.

Banno's thesis is that maths is invented, not discovered, just as games like chess are. Well then it is very easy to invent some rules for a game or some rules for a mathematics, and there are lots of them. But most are dull or unplayable.
So the thread itself is badly set up as a game that doesn't have much interest or significance, because posters can, and nearly always do, take the nuclear option and pretend they have "won". A better win might be if we could come up with a new form that was consistent and incomplete, but not isomorphic with arithmetic or something like that. I don't have a better set up that would encourage that, unfortunately.
Moliere July 13, 2024 at 16:35 #917042
Quoting unenlightened
A better win might be if we could come up with a new form that was consistent and incomplete, but not isomorphic with arithmetic or something like that. I don't have a better set up that would encourage that, unfortunately.


Me either.

Though I think your insight here is worth preserving:

Quoting unenlightened
So the thread itself is badly set up as a game that doesn't have much interest or significance, because posters can, and nearly always do, take the nuclear option and pretend they have "won"


The nuclear option -- contradiction -- is something like the fruit on the tree in paradise?
Moliere July 13, 2024 at 17:05 #917055
Quoting unenlightened
Banno's thesis is that maths is invented, not discovered, just as games like chess are. Well then it is very easy to invent some rules for a game or some rules for a mathematics, and there are lots of them. But most are dull or unplayable.


This, though, is the stronger point.

If the King is in check then the other player can swipe away the peices, but this is rude (and so it goes with the other games; the dull and unplayable games seem to proliferate, and the interesting ones are the ones we ought go for)

I think math is probably like chess, but that chess was built upon mathematics: so the metaphor is good, but starts on the wrong side.
Deleted User July 13, 2024 at 23:22 #917113
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
Banno July 14, 2024 at 04:08 #917171


Quoting unenlightened
So the thread itself is badly set up as a game that doesn't have much interest or significance

And yet it lives, five years on.

Quoting Moliere
If the King is in check then the other player can swipe away the peices, but this is rude


Some rules ruin the game, others make it more interesting.

One way to fix the game might be to oblige players to list the rules they are making use of, and hence have them construct a tree.

Hence,

Quoting Banno
Players take turns to add rules.

Quoting jgill
The sum of any two integers is zero.

Quoting Pfhorrest
The product of any two integers is omega. (Where omega is the first number bigger than any integers).

Quoting Banno
Then integers takes on a use that is peculiar to this game.

Conclusion: Quoting Banno
0=?

Quoting Banno
Let's call them Gill integers.

Quoting Banno
Let's call them Fhorrest Integers.


Question: prove that Fhorrest integers are the same as Gill integers

Quoting Deleted user
Theorem 1: Any two integers are the opposite of each other
a=-b
(from JGill's rule)
Conclusion: Quoting Deleted user
There is only one integer, 0.


An adding: If there is only one integer, then Fhorrest integers are the same as Gill integers.

New rule: There is an integer that is neither a Fhorrest integers nor a Gill integer.

Your turn...






unenlightened July 14, 2024 at 06:09 #917192
Quoting Moliere
If the King is in check then the other player can swipe away the peices,


That might be (but actually isn't) an interesting game, but it is no longer chess. Allegedly, rugby was invented when some idiot was supposedly playing football and picked the ball up and ran with it. A few other things had to change before it became a game worth playing.

There is a card game called "52 card pick up", in which the dealer throws all the cards up in the air, and leaves their opponent to pick them up. It's faintly amusing. Once.

Quoting Banno
And yet it lives, five years on.


As does 52 card pick up. But if you want to do something interesting in mathematics, or the philosophy of mathematics, this is not the way to go about it.
Banno July 14, 2024 at 06:11 #917193
Quoting unenlightened
But if you want to do something interesting in mathematics, or the philosophy of mathematics, this is not the way to go about it.


But yet again, here you are…. :wink:
unenlightened July 14, 2024 at 06:13 #917195
Reply to Banno Don't measure your success by my presence; I am a notorious shoveler of shit.
Banno July 14, 2024 at 06:18 #917197
Well, I'm only too pleased to provide you with the raw material.
Deleted User July 14, 2024 at 11:50 #917238
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
Deleted User July 14, 2024 at 12:48 #917252
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
Pfhorrest July 15, 2024 at 23:00 #917830
Wow I had no idea that my offhand contribution here would still have such a lingering impact so many years later...

(FWIW though, my name isn't P. Fhorrest, it's just Forrest but spelled with a Pfh instead of an F).
Deleted User July 16, 2024 at 00:12 #917846
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
Moliere July 16, 2024 at 00:49 #917867
Quoting unenlightened
That might be (but actually isn't) an interesting game, but it is no longer chess. Allegedly, rugby was invented when some idiot was supposedly playing football and picked the ball up and ran with it. A few other things had to change before it became a game worth playing.

There is a card game called "52 card pick up", in which the dealer throws all the cards up in the air, and leaves their opponent to pick them up. It's faintly amusing. Once.


I'll admit that that's not my favorite game. And there are only so many times I can play it.

Though what becomes shit was at one point food Reply to Banno

Quoting Deleted user
Derivative problem. If you are a platonist, you think math is discovered, if you are a nominalist or conceptualist, you think math is invented.


Hrm. What's it derived from? "How does math work?" ?
jgill July 16, 2024 at 06:15 #917973
Quoting Deleted user
Derivative problem. If you are a platonist, you think math is invented, if you are a nominalist or conceptualist, you think math is discovered.


What of us who think it is both created and discovered?
javi2541997 July 16, 2024 at 06:29 #917977
Nice to read a new post from you, Forrest. Reply to Pfhorrest :smile:

New rule: There is an integer that is neither a Fhorrest integers nor a Gill integer.


Quoting jgill
The sum of any two integers is zero.


Quoting Pfhorrest
The product of any two integers is omega. (Where omega is the first number bigger than any integers).


It must be a number smaller than omega, but not zero.

Something like this: x (the suspicious integer) < ?.

It is 1. Why? Because it is the smallest integer greater than zero and the smallest of Omega.

Everything I wrote above is pure crank, right? :lol:



Deleted User July 16, 2024 at 13:42 #918026
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
jgill July 16, 2024 at 19:37 #918125
Quoting Deleted user
What of us who think it is both created and discovered? — jgill

Sounds contradictory to me, unless you are saying the application of it is discovered


It is a bit fuzzy. But here is an example: Linear fractional transformations have been around for years but at some point someone discovered they could be categorized by the behavior of their fixed points. One such categorization was "parabolic", in which the fixed point demonstrates both attracting and repelling behaviors. Thus, a category was both discovered and created. When I determined the conditions under which infinite compositions of parabolic transformations converge to their fixed points years ago that was a discovery based upon a creation.

And speaking of which, category theory could be considered a creation, then its characteristics follow as discoveries.

However, I am open to other perspectives. Most mathematicians don't care to argue the point. But it is certainly fair game for the philosophically inclined.
Deleted User July 16, 2024 at 19:43 #918127
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
John McMannis July 17, 2024 at 01:02 #918211
The square root of 2 is now 1.5. Nice and easy lol
Mikie July 17, 2024 at 13:11 #918303
Reply to Pfhorrest

Been a long time buddy. Come back to the forum! It needs all the rationality it can get at this moment in history :lol:
Deleted User July 17, 2024 at 15:00 #918312
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
javi2541997 July 17, 2024 at 15:15 #918314
Reply to Deleted user You're taking the game too seriously. But it is the attitude I've seen most people take in posts discussing logic, riddles, games, etc. When they interact with me I feel hugely overwhelmed.
They believe I am trolling, but I simply lack wording and reasoning.

New rule: The sum of the product of any two integers is omega minus (now corrected!) the double of Lionino’s integers. 
Deleted User July 17, 2024 at 15:23 #918317
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
Pfhorrest July 18, 2024 at 07:22 #918562
Reply to Mikie Because you asked so nicely and I can't help myself, I'll chime in briefly on the topic of whether mathematics is created or discovered:

I think that the distinction between creation and discovery only applies to concrete things, and for abstract things like mathematics there is no such distinction. Because there we're dealing entirely with matters of possibility, so to discover something is just to show that it is possible, as in, it could be created, at any time; and conversely, to create something is only to show, and so discover, that it is possible, and always has been.

It's only with concrete things that exist within time that they could have already been actualized (in the past) and so be available to be discovered, in a way distinct from not having been actualized yet and so being available to create (in the future).
Deleted User August 08, 2024 at 00:50 #923665
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
javi2541997 August 11, 2024 at 05:01 #924380
Quoting Deleted user
Vector spaces may have irrational dimensions.


It turns to an uncountable dimension. Right? Or am I lost in something?

Now, I can't see the next step in your rule.
Deleted User August 11, 2024 at 06:06 #924390
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
javi2541997 August 11, 2024 at 06:36 #924392
Quoting Deleted user
But under my definition we will have uncountably many subspaces of R2 that are not subspaces of R1, for example.


I think I can see it. By uncountable in your definition, it means that there are infinite subspaces or dimensions. Right? It is not about to be countable but if the vector space has a dimension.
Deleted User August 11, 2024 at 07:07 #924397
This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.
javi2541997 October 12, 2024 at 12:49 #939005
New rules: A pot is stored on the shelf. To the pot there are other pots as well. All of them have the same size, weight, shape, and colour. Each pot contains the same proportion of whatever thing. They are located in the third step, so if one falls down, it gets broken. You are cooking (edit: dressing) Greek salad in your kitchen, but you notice that there isn't enough honey, so you ask your sister—who is a crackpot—to go to the pots and take some honey for the delicious salad that you are cooking up. When your sister enters the saloon, you hear a clatter sound, and your sister shouts, 'Ouch!'

How many pots got cracked considering there is already +1 crackpot and the rest of the pots are equivalent?

Please, elaborate.

Something closer to this:

f(x) = 1 + x
Moliere October 12, 2024 at 17:33 #939086
Reply to javi2541997 pretty sure the cracked pots are an exponential function such that if you allow 3 or 4 it's containable, but 6 or 7 might make all the non-crackpots become pots that can be cracked.

F(x) = x^C where "C" is the cardinality of the set of "pots"
javi2541997 October 12, 2024 at 18:36 #939100
Quoting Moliere
but 6 or 7 might make all the non-crackpots become pots that can be cracked.


That is probably one of the best phrases I read here so far.

If only the sister wasn't a crackpot, the only pots susceptible to being cracked were the ones on the shelf. Everything here is very complex and tricky. Who is responsible for the cracking? The crackpot sister or the pots on the shelf? I am starting to think that they are opposite poles. Their orbital gravitating force only led them to the destruction. :sad:
Banno October 12, 2024 at 21:18 #939128
Quoting javi2541997
You are cooking Greek salad...


Wait... cooking a Greek Salad...?
javi2541997 October 13, 2024 at 05:01 #939227
Quoting Banno
Wait... cooking a Greek Salad...?


OK... OK... sorry, my bad. You are dressing the Greek salad...
Banno October 13, 2024 at 05:03 #939228
Reply to javi2541997 Ohh, thank god! The horror! I was having such visions...

javi2541997 October 13, 2024 at 05:08 #939230
Reply to Banno Plot twist: I am actually the crackpot, not the imaginary sister mentioned in the "new rules post."

So, the counting of cracked pots starts at zero and not one.