🚀 go-pugleaf

Jean-Daniel Dana (JDDana@aol.com) wrote:
:    I have friends who are actually thinking about going into one of them
: pyramid thingies...  I don't have the time to sit down and do the math,
: but I remember seeing a post a while back by someone who did.....  Does
: anyone have a copy they can repost?

Simplest math I can think of to refute is that 2^^32 is 4.3 Billion, so 
the thing has either got to recycle or die within 32 "generations".  This 
presupposes that insects other mammals, inanimate particles, electrons, 
etc. are not going to "play" the game, which would make it last maybe 
another 20 generations?

Consider too that 95% of the world's pop. isn't in any position to throw 
$100, $1000, whatever, into the pot.  The pyramid scheme is a power of 
two scheme, so each generation/level requires a doubling of the total 
number of participants.  In every generation that does not exactly 
double, then someone has lost their money. Every "winner" takes money 
from many "losers".  The common missing element on these schemes is a 
product of value.  If there's nothing of value behind it, people will 
(eventually) realize it and not buy it.  When the first person says, 
"hold on here, let's take a look at this" the whole thing mysteriously 
and very suddenly ends with a screech, along with many a friendship that got 
tangled up in the mess.

Is that mathematical enough?
-- 
Bob Hiltner <bobhilt@eskimo.com> 
Seattle, U.S.A.