Many of you are probably aware of what Venn Diagrams are. Some of you may not be. For those who arent, here is a brief description from wikipedia:
Venn diagrams or set diagrams are diagrams that show all hypothetically possible logical relations between a finite collection of sets (groups of things). Venn diagrams were invented around 1880 by John Venn. They are used in many fields, including set theory, probability, logic, statistics, and computer science.
If you would like to know more, here is a link that shows how these work:
http://regentsprep.org/Regents/math/venn/LVenn.htm
I will use an example that is simpler than the one used on that page. Here is a diagram...
For my example, A=dogs with long hair, B=dogs with black hair, and A^B would be dogs with long hair and black hair. This is a simple example, not designed to solve a math problem, like the example they use on the link I provided, but just to show how to draw a Venn diagram. This should be familiar to those of you who have studied logic.
As far as Dawn and the football schedule goes, here would be a diagram...
[IMG] [/IMG]
For this diagram,
A=all things that were created from 1978 and beyond and still exist "now"
B=things that were created in 1978 and still exist "now"
Something to note...a schedule could be created in 1950, but someone wrote "1978" on it for some reason. But that wouldnt be in these circles. The 1950 schedule would in fact exist (assuming it hadnt been destroyed) but it wouldnt be represented in this diagram. You could draw a different diagram to where it was represented, but that is not my intent here.
Venn diagrams are used to illustrate logic. They are used sometimes when it is difficult to grasp ideas when just discussing them verbally. I think it is safe to assume that the football schedule in Dawn was created in 1978. Therefore, it would belong in the "B" circle, as logically, anything that was created in 1978 would be a subset of "all things created from 1978 and beyond". As the diagram illustrates, the schedule is part of the group of everything that was created from 1978 and beyond, and still exists. Therefore, from a pure logical standpoint, just because you see the 1978 football schedule, it does not mean you are in 1978.
This in and of itself does not shed any light on whether Dawn is set in 1978, 2008, or 2408. But hopefully it dispels the idea that just because you see it in the movie, that makes some kind of point that it is in fact 1978. It would in fact be reasonable to suggest that the movie might in fact be set in 1978. However, it is not logical proof that it is in fact 1978. This is the difference between something being reasonable, and something being logical. Just because something is "reasonable" does not necessarily mean it it true. It might be, it might not be. But from a pure logical discussion, if something is not logical, it is in fact not true. "A schedule from 1978 exists, therefore it is 1978" does not follow logic. As the diagrams show, it could exist indefinately.
This may seem like simple common sense, but some people confuse what is reasonable with what is logical. If "now" was 1978, then you would only see one circle, because the two would overlap. Nothing would have ever been created beyond 1978, as it is still 1978. As time passes, the A circle would get bigger in relation to the B circle, as more and more things were created. But the B circle would always be inside the A circle. Therefore, the existence of something created in 1978 gives no indication as to "when" it is.
One may think this is a waste of energy to type this, but I am bored and have nothing better to do (which makes it reasonable to assume that I dont have much going on in my life right now  )
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Originally Posted by EvilNed
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