Interesting Paradoxes

[Mad Indian]

So guys i thought of bringing to notice to you all some very interesting paradoxes in Philosophy... they are usually in a very simple language with interesting meaning.... Hope you all enjoy and contribute....:thumb::thumb:

The Omnipotent paradox:


It analyses the possibility of presence of Omnipotence and Impossible task by Logic....
Now lets assume that there is someone is Omnipotent, then if he is asked to create a task which no one can do(impossible task), then it becomes a paradox because:
1. if he manages to create that job9impossible task), then it means that He himself cant do that job(since it is impossible by defn.) so he is not omnipotent and so he could not have created it!!!!
2. But if he cant create a job which no one can do(by arguing he is omnipotent so no job escapes him), then it means he is not omnipotent as there lies a job which he cant do(creating an impossible task).:thumb::thumb:

 

[Mad Indian]

here is another one....

The Unstoppable force paradox:

It analyses the possibility of co existence of and Unstoppable force and a Immovable object...
Lets consider a scenario where an unstoppable force meets an immovable object....

1. if there is a presence of an unstoppable force, then there can be no logic in the presence of an Immovable object(since Unstoppable force means a change in acceleration of all objects so all objects have to move through a small distance)

2. If there is presence of an Immovable object, then there can be no unstoppable force(since it requires the object t move through a distance which is obviously not possible with the immovable object)

Thus they create a paradox.....!!!!!

 

[Mad Indian]

Here is another one

The Grandfather paradox:

Supposing that you had an abusive Grand father who abused your father into abusing you... so he becomes responsible for your miseries and you want to rid of him and you discover a time machine.... Now trying to kill him becomes a paradox because....:

You use the time machine and you go into your past and kill your grand father... But If you had killed your Grandfather, you will have no father, meaning you are not born meaning you could not have invented time machine and gone back in time and so you could not have Killed your Grandfather and so Your Grand father lives which will make him abusive and History will be unchanged......

This is a form of redundancy in logic to prevent us from rigging the time frame....:cool2::cool2:

 

[Mad Indian]

Why you cant kill Hitler....????


The Hitler's Murder Paradox:

The storylines involving this paradox have a character with access to a time machine, who attempts to "fix" history by murdering Adolf Hitler. The character reasons that, if Hitler never rises to power in Germany, then World War II and The Holocaust would never take place. This generates a temporal paradox, by the attempt of changing the past.

In some cases, the character simply fails to murder Hitler at all: he may fail in doing so, he may be convinced by other time travelers to give up the project, he may be stopped by the German army, or even by "guardians of time" that prevent such paradoxes. Stories with this approach work on the premise that the past can not be modified. The mere murder attempt may be formulated in such a way to fit or explain other specific real history events involving Hitler.

In other cases, the character may successfully murder Hitler, but without the expected results. For example, a new Führer may rise to power in Germany, and things would develop similarly. This approach rejects the Great Man theory: as WWII was the product of several economic, political and ideological causes, and not the will of a single man, then the loss of a single man would not be enough to stop the chain of events leading to it. The new Führer may even defeat the allies and triumph in the war, leading to a dystopia or a post-apocalyptic future. The character may then return to the past and prevent his own actions, to restore the timeline where Hitler ruled Germany and lost WWII. Common results of trying to assassinate Hitler in the past include:

1. The character not only fails to kill Hitler, but his actions themselves inadvertently bring about his rise to power.

2. A new, more competent Führer arises and defeats the allies in WWII.

3. Hitler is successfully assassinated, but without him, there is no major power to stop the threat of the Soviet Union, leading to Soviet domination of the whole of Europe or the world.

4. A true paradox is achieved, and a time loop results, where having killed Hitler, WWII does not occur, meaning the character in the future now has no reason to go back to change time, meaning he doesn't go back to change time, meaning Hitler is not assassinated, meaning WWII does occur, meaning the character has to go back and assassinate Hitler, and so on.

 

[Mad Indian]

Predestination paradox:

A predestination paradox (also called causal loop, causality loop, and, less frequently, closed loop or closed time loop) is a paradox of time travel that is often used as a convention in science fiction. It exists when a time traveller is caught in a loop of events that "predestines" or "predates" them to travel back in time. Because of the possibility of influencing the past while time traveling, one way of explaining why history does not change is by saying that whatever has happened must happen. A time traveler attempting to alter the past in this model, intentionally or not, would only be fulfilling their role in creating history as we know it, not changing it. Or that the time-traveler's personal knowledge of history already includes their future travels to their own experience of the past.

In layman's terms, it means this: the time traveller is in the past, which means they were in the past before. Therefore, their presence is vital to the future, and they do something that causes the future to occur in the same way that their knowledge of the future has already happened. It is very closely related to the ontological paradox and usually occurs at the same time.

Example:

A dual example of a predestination paradox is depicted in the classic Ancient Greek play 'Oedipus':

Laius hears a prophecy that his son will kill him and marry his wife. Fearing the prophecy, Laius pierces newborn Oedipus' feet and leaves him out to die, but a herdsman finds him and takes him away from Thebes. Oedipus, not knowing he was adopted, leaves home in fear of the same prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Laius, meanwhile, ventures out to find a solution to the Sphinx's riddle. As prophesied, Oedipus crossed paths with a wealthy man leading to a fight in which Oedipus slays him. Unbeknownst to Oedipus the man is Laius. Oedipus then defeats the Sphinx by solving a mysterious riddle to become king. He marries the widow queen Jocasta not knowing she is his mother.

 

[Dovah]

Here is another one

The Grandfather paradox:

Supposing that you had an abusive Grand father who abused your father into abusing you... so he becomes responsible for your miseries and you want to rid of him and you discover a time machine.... Now trying to kill him becomes a paradox because....:

You use the time machine and you go into your past and kill your grand father... But If you had killed your Grandfather, you will have no father, meaning you are not born meaning you could not have invented time machine and gone back in time and so you could not have Killed your Grandfather and so Your Grand father lives which will make him abusive and History will be unchanged......

This is a form of redundancy in logic to prevent us from rigging the time frame....:cool2::cool2:

Theory of Multiverse can explain this one

 

[Vyom]

I will tell you the greatest paradox for the two kinds of people - the theist and the atheist.

For the theist, the God must be all-knowing and in that case He already knows what we are going to do. But He if does then that means the choice is already made and if the choice is already made there cannot be free-will!

For the atheist, there is no God and hence we have not been created but accidentally came into being. Which means everything came into being on its own but no system can be self-sustaining. So we will have to look for another system from which this system (this existence) came into being and this would be a never ending chain of systems. In short, there would be no real explanation for existence.

 

[Mad Indian]

For the atheist, there is no God and hence we have not been created but accidentally came into being. Which means everything came into being on its own but no system can be self-sustaining. So we will have to look for another system from which this system (this existence) came into being and this would be a never ending chain of systems. In short, there would be no real explanation for existence.

Right about the first part.. but second part, Athiest are skeptical about god not out right rejecters of him

Here is an excellent explanation of that....

The Real God: An Epiphany - YouTube

 

[Vyom]

Right about the first part.. but second part, Athiest are skeptical about god not out right rejecters of him

Here is an excellent explanation of that....

The Real God: An Epiphany - YouTube

Then they are simply unable to form an opinion.

Dictionary meaning of atheist is: "a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings."

 

[Mad Indian]

Then they are simply unable to form an opinion.

Dictionary meaning of atheist is: "a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings."

Ya but they cant form an opinion because you cant prove the existence or absence of God... any way good paradox :thumb::thumb:

 

[Vyom]

Ya but they cant form an opinion because you cant prove the existence or absence of God... any way good paradox :thumb::thumb:

It is already proved, only ignorants don't understand how it is proved, just like many students who do not understand how a complex mathematical problem has been solved.

 

[Razor]

Theory of Multiverse can explain this one

Yeah. A parallel universe opens up and the story with the dead Gdad continues in that universe while in the original one life goes on as usual. This can be imagined as a tunnel which at a particular points splits into two tunnels. So the person enters the time machine sets the dial to x years in the past and waits but once the door of the time machine opens, he is actually in another universe.

 

[Razor]

For the atheist, there is no God and hence we have not been created but accidentally came into being.

Accidentally came into being ??? :shocked:
Apple falling on the ground is not accident, the squirrel eating the apple is not accident, the seeds coming in contact with the soil is not accident the rain is not accident, the growth of the apple tree is not accident. It is called science. It is the way nature works.

Which means everything came into being on its own but no system can be self-sustaining. So we will have to look for another system from which this system (this existence) came into being and this would be a never ending chain of systems. In short, there would be no real explanation for existence.

I do not understand what you mean here. Please explain.

 

[Razor]

It is already proved, only ignorants don't understand how it is proved, just like many students who do not understand how a complex mathematical problem has been solved.

Please show me this proof. 'Ignorant' means lacking knowledge or awareness. It does not mean 'id!ot' or 'ret@rd'. So yes I am ignorant of this proof, show me this proof.

 

[Mad Indian]

It is already proved, only ignorants don't understand how it is proved, just like many students who do not understand how a complex mathematical problem has been solved.

Whats proved I never saw any god banging my door...!!!! But no one can argue with a religious type, It will be like an argument between a five yr old and scientist....

 

[Mad Indian]

Theory of Multiverse can explain this one

But theory of Multi verse is a big confusing controversial concept mate.... But even in that, you cant kill your grand father in your own universe, am i correct!!!!????

 

[Mad Indian]

Bookstrap paradox or Ontological paradox:

The bootstrap paradox is a paradox of time travel in which information or objects can exist without having been created. After information or an object is sent back in time, it is recovered in the present and becomes the very object/information that was initially brought back in time in the first place. Numerous science fiction stories are based on this paradox, which has also been the subject of serious physics articles.

Example:

On his 30th birthday, a man who wishes to build a time machine is visited by a future version of himself. This future self explains to him that he should not worry about designing the time machine, as he has done it in the future. The man receives the schematics from his future self and starts building the time machine. Time passes until he finally completes the time machine. He then uses it to travel back in time to his 30th birthday, where he gives the schematics to his past self, closing the loop.

But interesting point to be noted is how the schematics came into being in the first place....!!!!!

 

[Dovah]

But theory of Multi verse is a big confusing controversial concept mate.... But even in that, you cant kill your grand father in your own universe, am i correct!!!!????

Yeah. The very act of you killing your Grandfather would generate an alternate timeline. Since now you killing your granddaddy is not in conflict with the laws of physics, it can't be called a paradox.

 

[Razor]

Yeah. The very act of you killing your Grandfather would generate an alternate timeline. Since now you killing your granddaddy is not in conflict with the laws of physics, it can't be called a paradox.

Yeah true. To be very precise the moment you enter the past you are in a parallel universe. So even the first breath that you take as you exit the time machine or the first microbe you kill as you exit the time machine belongs to a parallel universe which is not ours.

 

[Mad Indian]

Yeah. The very act of you killing your Grandfather would generate an alternate timeline. Since now you killing your granddaddy is not in conflict with the laws of physics, it can't be called a paradox.

1. Ok first of all, Multi verse is not proved.. and it is very controversial... Even if it is there, It wont affect our universe....!!!!

2. It is in conflict with the existing laws of physics in the universe as we know!!!! hence it is a paradox in our universe...!!!!