Paradox?

Cookiepaw · 2011-09-23 20:05:42

I just started middle school and in reading class we kind of discussed paradoxes. I didn't get it because the teacher didn't give examples. Can anyone tell me what a paradox is? Please give examples too.

Different55 · 2011-09-23 21:14:49

I <3 paradoxes. How about this one for starters?:

You go back in time and kill your dad before he gets together with your wife. Since him and your mom never got together, you can't possibly exist. Because you don't exist, you never went back in time. But if you never went back in time, then how did you kill your father? You aren't alive, so you didn't kill your father, so he's not dead so neither are you, so you go back in time and kill him and then you never killed him and then bring on the end of the frickin universe.

Another similar one:
You invent a time machine. You go back in time and destroy it right before you go back in time to destroy it. If you destroyed it, then you can't have destroyed it.

How about... here's one from a book I read.
You go back in time because the only cure for your mother's sickness vanished in the past and there's no way to reproduce it without going back in time. So you go back, and you get it, and then you go forward in time. But, on your way back, someone hitches a ride and jumps off a little early to make your mom sick. If you never went back in time, then your mother wouldn't have gotten sick and there would have been no need to go back in time. If you do, you make your mom sick and you have to go back in time to save her.

And...
You want to go from point A to point B. To do that, you must go half the distance. To get to the half point, you must go half of that half (a fourth of the way) To go that fourth, you have to travel and eighth, then sixteenth, and so on.

rob1nfly · 2011-09-23 22:10:10

Fun, with a portal gun!
Put a panel on your chest, then on that panel and another, put portals on them. Jump in, what happens?

Bobithan · 2011-09-24 09:10:35

A ship is made of wood
Over time the wood rots and the planks get replaced
Soon none of the original planks are still there
Is it still the same ship?

You can't step into the same river twice. If you step in, then step out, then step back in, the water that you are standing in the first time isn't the same as the water you were standing in the second time. So, you can't step into the same river twice.

"This statement is false"

If I remember any more I'll add them into here

Maikel · 2011-09-24 09:28:40

Bobithan wrote:

A ship is made of wood
Over time the wood rots and the planks get replaced
Soon none of the original planks are still there
Is it still the same ship?

You can't step into the same river twice. If you step in, then step out, then step back in, the water that you are standing in the first time isn't the same as the water you were standing in the second time. So, you can't step into the same river twice.

"This statement is false"

If I remember any more I'll add them into here

1. Yes
2. A river is a body of water that flows from A to B. So you do step in the same river.
3. That makes 0% sense.

Different55 · 2011-09-24 13:10:13

You tell him, Maikel.

Coolio · 2011-09-24 13:50:29

Let me elaborate on number 3.
If the statement is false, that means it tells the truth. However, the truth is that the satement is false. Therefore, the statement is false and the statement tells the truth.

Yeah, Bobithan says the ones I knew, except I learned #3 as...
"The following statement is false." "The preceding statement is true."

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em · 2011-09-26 20:19:43

Google the "Catch-22".

Announcement

Advertisement

#1 2011-09-23 20:05:42

Paradox?

#2 2011-09-23 21:14:49

Re: Paradox?

#3 2011-09-23 22:10:10

Re: Paradox?

#4 2011-09-24 09:10:35

Re: Paradox?

#5 2011-09-24 09:28:40

Re: Paradox?

#6 2011-09-24 13:10:13

Re: Paradox?

#7 2011-09-24 13:50:29

Re: Paradox?

#8 2011-09-26 20:19:43

Re: Paradox?

Board footer