How Voting Is Like a Klein Bottle
Source: Metafilter ·
In 1785, the French mathematician and philosopher Nicolas de Condorcet discovered that a majority can sometimes vote itself into a logical loop. In elections with three or more candidates, each voter might rank the candidates in a perfectly clear and consistent way — yet when all the votes are tallied, every candidate loses in a head-to-head contest against one of their rivals. Now three researchers have shown that Condorcet's 240-year-old paradox has a shape, and it's suitably peculiar: a Klein bottle, a surface with no distinct inside or outside.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is How Voting Is Like a Klein Bottle?
How Voting Is Like a Klein Bottle is a website discovery curated from Metafilter. In 1785, the French mathematician and philosopher Nicolas de Condorcet discovered that a majority can sometimes vote itself into a logical loop. In elections with three or more can
How can I access or experience this?
You can experience this content directly on its original host (Metafilter) by clicking the "Open Original" button.
Where does this content come from?
Curated from Metafilter by the OnSuggest team to surface the most interesting and serendipitous content on the web.
More like this
All Communities discoveries →AI usage generates a fragile codebase
submitted by floofloof to programming 31 points | 1 comments https://evanxmerz.com/post/ai-usage-generates-a-fragile-codebase/ cross-posted from: lemmy.bestiver.se/post/1441589 Comments
Breakthrough in non-invasive liver testing
submitted by lavenie to science 17 points | 0 comments https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-11-03-breakthrough-in-non-invasive-liver-testing
Oil prices are so high that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are dropping
submitted by FlashMobOfOne to science 270 points | 59 comments https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/oil-prices-are-so-high-that-co2-emissions-from-fossil-fuels-are-dropping/ cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/54245880 The U.S. war with Iran has raised fossil fuel prices so much that the resulting drop in oil demand has put the world on track to see a rare dip in carbon emissions from these sources in 2026. Between 2019 and 2025, carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels grew by about 0.8 percent annually, according to a new study published in Nature Climate Change. But 2026 is set to b
The Maya Loved Using Mercury-Rich Red Paint to Decorate Pottery, Temple Walls and Even Burials. They May Have Accidentally Poisoned Their Own Water and Food Supply in the Process
submitted by Clambake0351 to science 68 points | 5 comments https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-maya-loved-to-use-mercury-rich-red-paint-to-decorate-pottery-temple-walls-and-even-burials-they-may-have-accidentally-poisoned-their-own-water-and-food-supply-in-the-process-180989851/ Testing of ancient sediment from two lakes in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula has revealed “crazy” high concentrations of mercury, as one researcher puts it, confirming findings from other regions of the Mesoamerican civilization
Meta expands Instagram's AI age-guessing tech globally
submitted by madeindex to technology 17 points | 1 comments https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/09/meta-expands-instagrams-ai-age-guessing-tech-globally/ cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/54244922 Guess they are opening up about how they be using AI, as invasively as possible, to completely analyze and categorize all users: “…use AI to analyze entire profiles for contextual clues, such as birthday celebrations or mentions of school grades…The company also looks at visual cues from photos and videos, including a person’s height or bone structure.” Good excuse to collect biometrics!
Meta's Muse AI now has an Apple Watch app, which you shouldn't install
submitted by madeindex to technology 39 points | 3 comments https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/11/09/metas-muse-ai-now-has-an-apple-watch-app-which-you-shouldnt-install cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/54245199 Meta always up to no good, even in quality!