L
Lobe
Guest
This is worth reading. It will get you thinking. This is genuinely a paradox i have thought up myself. If you cant be bothered reading the first bit, skip a couple of paragraphs down.
OK. So, I probably think a bit to much. I love long car journeys, because I can set my brain to muddle through these kind of questions. I never get any answers, and I generally bring up a couple more questions.
Anyway. I am guessing you all know what a paradox is.
For those who don't, below is a quick (and over-used) example:
You travel back in time and kill your grandfather before he meets your grandmother which precludes your own conception and, therefore, you couldn't go back in time and kill your grandfather.
You see how that works? By doing that, the very action you just did becomes impossible. It's like going back in time and killing yourself. You couldn't have killed yourself, because in the future you came back and killed yourself, and so on and so on.
So. We know what a paradox is. You may be asking what relevance this is to the real world, because obviously we are not going to travel back in time and kill ourselves.
Now, to explain the point of this thread, you also need to know what infinity is. Infinity is... infinity. Numbers go on forever right? There is no highest or smallest number. You can always times or divide any number by two, and make it bigger/smaller.
OK. So, back to the real world. Pick up a ruler, and see how long it is.
Now, if numbers are infinite, then you can measure anything to an infinite degree of accuracy. So, that ruler might say 30cm. But, if we measured it using a more accurate ruler, it might say 30.2cm. If we did it again, with yet a more accurate ruler, it might read 30.25cm. And so on. So, how long is it really?
We cannot know. Nothing can be measured to a singular point. That ruler's real length cannot ever be determined, because every reading you take on its length can always be measured more accurately, producing a different, and more accurate result.
Another one along the same lines is time. Time moves forward right? How is it possible. For time to move forward 10 seconds it must first pass 5 seconds, and before that 2.5, and before that 1 second, and before that 0.5 seconds. Basically, time has to pass an infinite array of points to reach any given distance, and for anything to reach infinity in a finite time is impossible.
This is very similar to one of Zeno's paradox's, which when i read about it inspired me to post this.
So whatcha think. Am i crazy, or is it impossible to move anywhere and measure anything?
OK. So, I probably think a bit to much. I love long car journeys, because I can set my brain to muddle through these kind of questions. I never get any answers, and I generally bring up a couple more questions.
Anyway. I am guessing you all know what a paradox is.
For those who don't, below is a quick (and over-used) example:
You travel back in time and kill your grandfather before he meets your grandmother which precludes your own conception and, therefore, you couldn't go back in time and kill your grandfather.
You see how that works? By doing that, the very action you just did becomes impossible. It's like going back in time and killing yourself. You couldn't have killed yourself, because in the future you came back and killed yourself, and so on and so on.
So. We know what a paradox is. You may be asking what relevance this is to the real world, because obviously we are not going to travel back in time and kill ourselves.
Now, to explain the point of this thread, you also need to know what infinity is. Infinity is... infinity. Numbers go on forever right? There is no highest or smallest number. You can always times or divide any number by two, and make it bigger/smaller.
OK. So, back to the real world. Pick up a ruler, and see how long it is.
Now, if numbers are infinite, then you can measure anything to an infinite degree of accuracy. So, that ruler might say 30cm. But, if we measured it using a more accurate ruler, it might say 30.2cm. If we did it again, with yet a more accurate ruler, it might read 30.25cm. And so on. So, how long is it really?
We cannot know. Nothing can be measured to a singular point. That ruler's real length cannot ever be determined, because every reading you take on its length can always be measured more accurately, producing a different, and more accurate result.
Another one along the same lines is time. Time moves forward right? How is it possible. For time to move forward 10 seconds it must first pass 5 seconds, and before that 2.5, and before that 1 second, and before that 0.5 seconds. Basically, time has to pass an infinite array of points to reach any given distance, and for anything to reach infinity in a finite time is impossible.
This is very similar to one of Zeno's paradox's, which when i read about it inspired me to post this.
So whatcha think. Am i crazy, or is it impossible to move anywhere and measure anything?
