Paradoxes and Problems

Paradoxes and Problems

The Grandfather paradox

Imagine that you do manage to invent a time machine. You travel back in time to the time of your grandfather. Let’s say you meet and because you are a murderous grandson, you decide to kill him. This would then prevent one of your parents from being born. So you would not be born and you would not have been able to create the time machine  So you would not be able to kill your grandfather, so your father would be born, so you would be born, so you would invent a time machine,  kill your grandfather preventing one of your parents from being born, and so you would not be born, so you would not have been able to create the time machine, so you would not be able to kill your grandfather, so your father would be born, so you would be born, so you would invent a time machine, kill your grandfather etc…

However, this paradox depends on two things

• You invent a time machine (that would be able to go back in time)
• You are a horrible person and kill your grandfather.

So, what do you think? Would you kill your grandfather?

The Twins Paradox

Having watched the video in the link here (MinutePhysics), do you think that it is a paradox. Perhaps it should not even be on this list as a paradox but as a puzzle.

Would even be possible to turn a space ship around so quickly?

Zeno’s Paradox

The big race between Achilles and the Tortoise. Obviously Achilles wins, right? Wrong. If you have a 100m race, and the tortoise starts 10m from the star line( so only has to travel 90m). The tortoise moves and so does Achilles. Achilles runs the 10m that the tortoise started in front, and by that time the tortoise, has also moved forward, so Achilles covers that distance, but by that time the tortoise has also moved forward, so Achilles covers that distance etc…

Even if the distances stay small, the tortoise will always remain in front and Achilles can never catch hi,m. So Achilles can’t win the race.

The Liar (Opposite day Paradox)

If i tell you “I am lying” am I? Well if I’m telling the truth, then i AM lying. But if i am lying, then i am telling the truth thus justifying my original statement that i am lying, so i am telling the truth.

The same works for if i say “it’s Opposite Day”. If it is Opposite Day, then the opposite of Opposite Day is just a regular day, so it’s not Opposite Day. But if it is Opposite Day, and i say that “it’s not Opposite Day” then it actually is Opposite Day, then the opposite of  not Opposite Day is Opposite Day, but the opposite of that is not Opposite Day and the opposite of that is Opposite Day etc….

Could it ever be Opposite Day?

What do you think?

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Photo by Silvio Kundt on Unsplash