Talk:3137: Cursed Number

Warning! Do not read! 421827639108237885847650045004 --Darth Vader (talk) 22:00, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

Oh no, too late! bdbdbalasdfsdfoiubtasdf Barmar (talk) 22:35, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

Well, at least you knew that reading the string "bdbdbalasdfsdfoiubtasdf" was the only antidote! 92.17.62.87 23:35, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

Maybe it's safe if you read it scientifically? ~4.218276391088547650045x10²⁹?--DollarStoreBa'al^converse 23:43, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

Edit: NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE --DollarStoreBa'al^converse 23:44, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

Not pictured - an MTF team breaking into the compound and abducting the original authors while clean-up arrives with amnestics.

Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? 76.209.228.203 23:50, 3 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm a German. You <snicker> did this on purpose <guffaw> right? AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA 2A02:2455:1960:4000:6CFB:CAF1:B89F:C57E 09:00, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

This comic is the best comic in a while Mathmaster (talk)

Pentium FDIV Bug is a math error when handling specific rarely-encountered numbers. {footnote: over 30 years ago!!} No FDIV deaths are reported, but we might not know. --PRR (talk) 00:20, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

• ahaha 0.1+0.2 goes brrt (e.g. = 0,30000000000000004) 81.89.66.133 08:54, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

I have a different interpretation of this comic than the one in the explanation. See, I think it makes more sense that due to the infinite nature of numbers, it can be said that there may exist one that happens to be a severe cognitohazard, rather than there certainly being one such number in the comic's universe. HoneyBadger (talk) 01:55, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

I found this number years ago, while reading a hexadecimal dump of an image file, and yes, it is just as potent, possibly more so, in hexadecimal. Want to know what it is? It starts (in hex of course) DEADFACEABEDEFACEDAFADEDBADBEADEDBEDAD before going off into more ‘normal’ digits. 2607:FB90:8B1D:C283:21DE:C9A5:72EB:C044 03:42, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

• Oh, magic numbers. What about a 0x31124837h pointer? 81.89.66.133 08:54, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

SCP nerd here, I think the article should link to a different SCP. SCP-033 isn't really a good example of a cognitohazard, since it affects written/digital storage, not the mind/brain. SCP-012 for example would be a closer fit. (CW: somewhat graphic self harm) --Muno (talk) 04:45, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

If one supposes that reading the cursed number inside another number is also bad, then for you to have at most a 1/2 chance of reading it in a string of numbers with the bounds given in the comic, you would have to read 1.8*10^21 digits strung together TheTrainsKid (talk) 05:15, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Taking an average reading speed of 40 digits per second, that would take the reader a trillion years.

46.144.8.194 07:25, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

• Good. Trillion years divided by 9 billion people still gives 111.(1) years of non-stop reading. 81.89.66.133 08:55, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

• Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash features a visual "virus" that causes neurological damage to hacker's minds when they see a carefully crafted image. This XKCD might be a slight reference to this, too.

Another literary example would Max Barry's Lexicon. --Coconut Galaxy (talk) 11:28, 4 September 2025 (UTC)