Otto-Korrect t1_j1mg2cd wrote on December 25, 2022 at 4:35 PM

I think he just proved that he never FOUND two that were alike. There is absolutely no rule against it happening.

It's like saying "I proved that you can't shuffle cards onto perfect order". No, you can just show that the odds of it happening are very low.

I can't see how it would be possible to have 100,000,000,000,000 snowflakes without a repeat.

R50cent t1_j1mznby wrote on December 25, 2022 at 7:09 PM

I mean, correct me if I'm wrong... but I thought there were two gentlemen in Europe who found two snowflakes that were alike as a way to pass the time while drinking at a pub. It's been a long while since I read the story though.. could just be nonsense... But I remember reading it years ago

deadowl t1_j1n3szq wrote on December 25, 2022 at 7:42 PM

I think I've read that he postulated that they likely might start out alike.

CryptGuard t1_j1nwjut wrote on December 25, 2022 at 11:33 PM

You could break it down extremely far and say no two ANYTHING are ever alike because it's statistically improbable of two things having the EXACT same measurements and weight down to the exact molecule.

At the same time you could say all snowflakes are alike because they are frozen water with a certain maximum diameter and mirrored shape.