Your Paradox.

[Zersy]

Just State a Paradox to see how well we can understand one.

(The purpose of this thread is too see if a Paradox is actually possible)

I'll start one with the good old Futurama one where Fry ends up doing his own grandmother when time traveling in the past causing him to become his own grandfather.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Just State a Paradox to see how well we can understand one.

(The purpose of this thread is too see if a Paradox is actually possible)

I'll start one with the good old Futurama one where Fry ends up doing his own grandmother when time traveling in the past causing him to become his own grandfather.

That's not a paradox though. A paradox is something impossible which will fuck up the universe. Like if I went back in time to kill Hitler at birth then, in the future I'd have no reason to go back in time, thus royally fucking up the universe and creating a huge plothole that the internet will whine about for years to come.

 

[S.R.S.]

If a crocodile steals a child and promises its return if the father can correctly guess what the crocodile will do, how should the crocodile respond in the case that the father guesses that the child will not be returned?

It is opposite day today.

[It's gone]

 

[Maze1125]

I'll start one with the good old Futurama one where Fry ends up doing his own grandmother when time traveling in the past causing him to become his own grandfather.

That's not a time paradox because nothing inconsistent is caused.
A time paradox would be going back in time and killing your grandmother before she gave birth to your mother, because then you'd never be born and couldn't go back in time to kill your grandmother, and so you would be born and would go back in time and kill your grandmother, but then you couldn't be born... etc.

If a crocodile steals a child and promises its return if the father can correctly guess what the crocodile will do, how should the crocodile respond in the case that the father guesses that the child will not be returned?

Easy, the crocodile could say that the guy was wrong and so not return the child, but then later return the child for reasons other than the given puzzle.

Is god willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?

That's not a paradox, it's an attempted logical proof.

 

[S.R.S.]

Easy, the crocodile could say that the guy was wrong and so not return the child, but then later return the child for reasons other than the given puzzle.

So the croc was going to give the son back after all then?

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Easy, the crocodile could say that the guy was wrong and so not return the child, but then later return the child for reasons other than the given puzzle.

So the croc was going to give the son back after all then?

I don't think the croc would care, he'd just eat the kid.

 

[Adzma]

I always lie.

 

[EvilGenius666]

Pretty much the entire plot of the newest Artemis Fowl book (which, incidentally, has the subtitle "...and the Time Paradox") revolves around a huge paradox where nothing in the book would have happened if anything in the book hadn't happened.

 

[Sampler]

I always lie.

Not really a paradox - you could be someone who sometimes lies - in which case you were lying when making the statement but on occasion tell the truth so the statement is fasle.

 

[FactualSquirrel]

The next statement is true. The previous statement is false.

 

[Crayzor]

I go back in time and murder my grandfather. Because he doesn't exist I am never born, so I can't go back in time to kill him, which means he will survive and I will be born. And repeat.

 

[reg42]

Can the almighty God create a rock which he cannot lift?

That's all I got at the moment.

 

[Maze1125]

Easy, the crocodile could say that the guy was wrong and so not return the child, but then later return the child for reasons other than the given puzzle.

So the croc was going to give the son back after all then?

Exactly. So the guy was wrong, but the croc still fulfilled his side of the "deal".

Anyway: "This sentence is false."

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

That's not a paradox though. A paradox is something impossible which will fuck up the universe. Like if I went back in time to kill Hitler at birth then, in the future I'd have no reason to go back in time, thus royally fucking up the universe and creating a huge plothole that the internet will whine about for years to come.

That's not a time paradox because nothing inconsistent is caused.
A time paradox would be going back in time and killing your grandmother before she gave birth to your mother, because then you'd never be born and couldn't go back in time to kill your grandmother, and so you would be born and would go back in time and kill your grandmother, but then you couldn't be born... etc.

Except it sort of is. Killing your grandmother creates a loop without ending (you kill her -> you're never born -> you can't kill her -> you're born -> you kill her), being your own grandfather creates a loop without beginning, since in order for you to exist you need to have traveled back, but you need to exist in order to have traveled back (you're born -> you travel back -> you become your own grandfather -> you're born). It's possible that your grandmother would've met someone else if you were never born, but then you wouldn't be your own grandfather and their grandchild wouldn't be you.

Still, most of these paradoxes can either be explained or will never happen at all by using a divergent timeline model. If you travel back you don't alter your own timeline, but you simply disappear from your timeline and start an entirely new one where you appear.

 

[Zorg Machine]

going back in time to change anything. if it's fixed then you never would have gone back in time to fix it.

the smartest idiot in the world (not sure if it qualifies as paradox)

 

[Crayzor]

Can the almighty God create a rock which he cannot lift?

That's all I got at the moment.

He is almighty, but he cannot do that which is impossible. Creating a rock so heavy he couldn't lift it is impossible. At least, that's the answer I've been given when I have asked this question.

 

[Droa]

Can the almighty God create a rock which he cannot lift?

That's all I got at the moment.

yes he can create a rock that he cannot lift and will lift it anyway sorry had to answer that one,

its the same as "can God create a sandwich so big that not even he can finish, the answer is yes he can and will finish it anyway"

and about the paradox's just go play the soul Legacy of Kain games, they are chalk full of them

 

[clericalerror]

I think my favorite paradox comes from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

For those who didn't play through the game, you start out as a kid, the Princess Zelda has a premonition about Ganondorf royally screwing up Hyrule. You become the "Hero of Time" to stop this horrible future from happening.

Time Travel wise you go forward in time to become the Hero, save all the Sages of the 6 Temples to help you defeat Ganondorf and stop the future you visit from ever happening. Everything in game makes sense except for one moment...

...The Song of Storms.

The Song of Storms you learn off someone in the future, who says he learned it from you when you were a kid. You go back in time after you've learned the song and play it to that same guy 7 years earlier in order to continue the story.

This is the only moment of "Destiny" in the whole game. By that guy teaching you the song the game has essentially admitted that everything you do in the future is going to eventuate. You cannot learn the song from him unless you do something later (fine for Bill and Ted), but if it is pre-destined, everything is predestined which means you cannot stop Ganondorf from messing up the future... but you do.

Maybe I put too much thought into this

 

[clericalerror]

Can the almighty God create a rock which he cannot lift?

That's all I got at the moment.

yes he can create a rock that he cannot lift and will lift it anyway sorry had to answer that one,

its the same as "can God create a sandwich so big that not even he can finish, the answer is yes he can and will finish it anyway"

and about the paradox's just go play the soul Legacy of Kain games, they are chalk full of them

er... If he can "eat" or "lift" it anyway the then answer is no.

 

[sms_117b]

Olbers Paradox

The universe in infinite, and there are countless stars in the sky.
This means that at every point in the sky relative to earth, whatever it's position, there is bound to be a star emitting light.
So how come we have night?

Spoiler

Well when he postulated the question is was unknown, there is interstellar dust and gravity wells that stop all light reaching Earth, but, not as much as would be required to block out enough light from each star as to dim the sky to only seeing dots, so the paradox does still stand to modern science as I remember it