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Article 5209 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: tomh.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
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Subject: Re: Peano and the commerce of ideas and repr
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Date: 23 Apr 92 04:07:46 GMT
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G.Joly@cs.ucl.ac.uk (Gordon Joly) writes:

> At the beginning of the universe, there was nothing. We call that
> Zero.

My old CS prof. and friend Eddie Storm (Syracuse U.) told me:

        At the National Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C.,
        there is a velvet covered pedestal inside a vacuum
        sealed bell jar.  And on that pedestal sits the
        number Zero.  Up on a shelf above this is a box,
        labeled "The Successor Function," and nobody is
        allowed to open the box to see what's inside.


