I am not a fan of science fiction, will usually avoid it
But some years ago I woke up in the middle of the night. World Service was broadcasting a science fiction story. It kept me gripped, even scared me a bit
It concerned the New York subway. The powers that be decided to build a new line to relieve the pressure on the system, providing some extra links between existing stations, much as the Victoria line did in 1960s London
A math professor noticed that the new line would mean that the connectivity (in the topological sense) of the system would be infinite & begged them to amend the plan
Of course they did not. The new line opened. Trains disappeared, along with all their passengers
I dont remember the denouement exactly but I am sure it involved a race against time to either block off a section of the track or dig a new one to bring the connectivity back to a finite real world number
When the computer starts acting funny, I sometimes wonder if the connectivity of the World Wide Web has temporarily wandered off into infinity
