We are a nation of heaps. We live in heaps. We respond only to issues when they become heaps - and then rarely. So, what’s a heap? The heap paradox comes from rather vague predicates. You’ve often heard of a heap of sand or a heap of trouble. What this means is roughly we cannot distinguish individuals (such as grains of sand from a pile) from the others. In fact, it is more complicated. The ancient interpretation of this paradox (also called the sorites paradox ) is to resolve the question as to when, by removal of individual grains of sand, it is no longer a heap? In this note, we look at heaps from the reverse perspective. For example, when we add grains of sand to a collection, when does the collection cease being a collection and becomes a heap? Of course, this paradox has no real resolution, but the word “heap” does seem to apply to many issues of the day. The (reverse) heap paradox is a key ...
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