Paradoxes

[Lainehart]

How many paradoxes do you know?

Here's an example of one:

FLETCHER'S PARADOX

Fletcher's Paradox states that absolutely nothing is actually touching the ground...
This works simply; for something to reach the ground it has to go halfway, right? And from that point to the ground it has to go halfway again, and from there halfway again... (etc and so on) so it keeps going halfway and never reaches the ground!

Hope that's understandable, I'm no good at explaining things

[Craig]

I didn't understand that at all.

[DreamingOfDreams]

I'm not sure who it's by, but isn't there one which says that nothing is color, but it's just what the eyes see or something? Has anyone else heard this one?

[Rye]

I'm not sure who it's by, but isn't there one which says that nothing is color, but it's just what the eyes see or something? Has anyone else heard this one?

Well, nothing really is colour. Colour is just light waves that are seperated into a visible spectrum. Say that a chair is orange. It's only orange because it absorbs orange visible light waves and reflecting all others. White absorbs no light waves and black absorbs all light waves.

[Silmaril]

I did not understand what you said about the ground thingy.

[Lainehart]

I guess I explained it wierdly... let me try again -
Say you drop a ball:
It gets halfway to the ground (think of this as maybe... point "a" or something)
From "point a" to the ground it goes halfway (point b)
From "point b" to the ground it goes halfway (point c)
From "point c" to the ground it goes halfway

Hence it keeps going halfway and never reaches the ground

More or less confusing?

[RSL]

I understood you, Lainehart.

[Lainehart]

Nice...
Here's some more, less complicated ones:

Stanley's Law of Taking Things Apart
When putting things back together again, there will always be at least one piece left over that will not fit anywhere.

The Barber Paradox
There is a village. In this village is a barber who has promised to shave ALL of the men who DON'T shave themselves and NONE of the men who DO shave themselves. Does the barber shave himself? His ways are contradictory no matter what the answer is;

#1. He shaves himself - This means he's shaving someone who shaves themselves
#2. He doesn't - He must shave himself, according to his promise... but now we're back to answer #1

The Liar Paradox
Probably the simplest of all...

THIS SENTENCE IS FALSE

Is that true or false???

[Craig]

I get it now. Still doesn't make sense to me though.

[Dr.K]

Some paradoxes are intriguing enough I guess, but I find most of them either lame plays on language or just completely non-sensical. For Example: -

Which is better? - Eternal Happiness or a ham sandwich?
Well, cleary eternal happiness, right? Not the case.
For nothing is better than eternal happiness, and a ham sandwich is better than nothing.

But this begs the bigger question - what about a pickle sandwich?

[radyk05]

FLETCHER'S PARADOX

Fletcher's Paradox states that absolutely nothing is actually touching the ground...
This works simply; for something to reach the ground it has to go halfway, right? And from that point to the ground it has to go halfway again, and from there halfway again... (etc and so on) so it keeps going halfway and never reaches the ground!

thats one of zeno's paradoxes. the only difference is that with zeno youre walking towards a wall and not falling to the ground.

[Zell's Fists of Fury]

Stanley's Law of Taking Things Apart
When putting things back together again, there will always be at least one piece left over that will not fit anywhere.

That's more of a Murphy's Law than anything else; anything can can go wrong, will.

[Shoeberto]

I think the more pressing question is: Is "paradoxes" really the plural form of "paradox?" I'd look it up, but y'know. It's probably right, but it looks weird.

[rubah]

Paradox:

Trying to decide whether you want your oppoent in tic tac toe to win diagonally or up and down, or sideways.

[KentaRawr!]

I know one!

There was once a man, and he threw a rock into the field. But upon doing this, he found that he crushed a smaller version of himself. He ran away rather quickly...

But upon running away, he ran into a black hole that sent him back in time, and shrinking him. He quickly looked up to find a rock flying towards him! The last thing he saw was a giant version of himself looking at his dying body, and the giant ran away in fear, but upon running away in fear, he ran into a black hole that sent him back in time and shrinking him. He quickly looked up to find a rock flying towards him! You see where this is going? >_>

This creates the loop of shrinking rock death doom thing. o_O