On 10/17/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Anthony wrote:
On 10/16/07, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
I see no reason why the removal of the space constraint should change the *ideal* subject matter distribution substantially.
Doesn't the term "ideal" essentially mean "without constraints"?
No, It's more like "optimum", in which case it may or may not have constraints.
Whether you call it "ideal" or "optimum", I'd say the sum of all human knowledge would be the answer. Ideally, if I wanted to know anything about anything I could ask Wikipedia and it'd tell me. Practically, space would limit that, verifiability/lack of records would limit that, policy against original research would limit that, interest would limit that, ease of use would limit that, privacy considerations would limit that, etc. I doubt the distribution of topics would be preserved after those limitations.