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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 24, 2017 at 6:08 am
Grelling–Nelson paradox
A word is autological if it describes itself.
A word is heterological if it does not describe itself.
Quote:Is "heterological" a heterological word? If the answer is 'no', "heterological" is autological. This leads to a contradiction, for in this case "heterological" does not describe itself: it must be a heterological word. But if the answer is 'yes', "heterological" is heterological. This again leads to a contradiction, because if the word "heterological" describes itself, it is autological.
Quote:Is "heterological" a heterological word?
no → "heterological" is autological → "heterological" describes itself → "heterological" is heterological, contradiction
yes → "heterological" does not describe itself → "heterological" is not heterological, contradiction
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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 24, 2017 at 6:26 am
(November 23, 2017 at 9:33 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: George Carlin was reportedly furious about that 'sappy piece of shit' (his words) being frequently attributed to him. If I recall, it was actually written by a USian pastor.
Boru Should add mostly inaccurate to the list of things that is. Who says we have less fun? Yes, we have smaller families, but that isn't a bad thing. Most stuff on that list is just eyerollingly dumb.
This seems like the epitome of glorifying the past while shitting on the present. Like all those people who want to go back to the good old days, before Penecilin and the ease to stay in contact with loved ones halfway across the world. There are things we should go back to, but that list. Ugh. No.
That list seems like its own, very ironic, paradox.
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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 24, 2017 at 8:09 am
(November 23, 2017 at 7:01 pm)Mr.Obvious Wrote: The Unexpected Hanging Paradox
Taken from wikipedia:
A judge tells a condemned prisoner that he will be hanged at noon on one weekday in the following week but that the execution will be a surprise to the prisoner. He will not know the day of the hanging until the executioner knocks on his cell door at noon that day.
Having reflected on his sentence, the prisoner draws the conclusion that he will escape from the hanging. His reasoning is in several parts. He begins by concluding that the "surprise hanging" can't be on Friday, as if he hasn't been hanged by Thursday, there is only one day left - and so it won't be a surprise if he's hanged on Friday. Since the judge's sentence stipulated that the hanging would be a surprise to him, he concludes it cannot occur on Friday.
He then reasons that the surprise hanging cannot be on Thursday either, because Friday has already been eliminated and if he hasn't been hanged by Wednesday noon, the hanging must occur on Thursday, making a Thursday hanging not a surprise either. By similar reasoning he concludes that the hanging can also not occur on Wednesday, Tuesday or Monday. Joyfully he retires to his cell confident that the hanging will not occur at all.
The next week, the executioner knocks on the prisoner's door at noon on Wednesday — which, despite all the above, was an utter surprise to him. Everything the judge said came true.
Where did the prisoner's reasoning go wrong.
What the prisoner didn't realize was that the judge was indeed going to let him off - the prisoner's reasoning was flawless.
Unbeknownst to the prisoner, however, was that the judge received a telegram on Wednesday morning informing him that the prisoner was in fact the Mysterious Stranger who had robbed the Greenland Express mail train 11 years earlier, making off with kr14 and a tin of pickled lumpfish. Escaping on foot was arduous (to say the least), so the robber hitched a lift on a milk cart drawn by a pair of fighting bull merinos. Deciding to hold onto his kr14 for a rainy day, he gave the lumpfish to the cart driver to thank him for his trouble.
Delighted at his good fortune, the cartsman arrived home and asked his wife (Babette) to prepare the fish for that evening's supper. Sadly, a few hours after eating their meal, both the cartsman and his good lady succumbed to botulism due to consuming tainted fish.
Babette, it transpired, was actually the judge's twin sister, and he had been mourning his loss for more than a decade. Realizing that he had his sister's killer within his power at long last, the judge went back on his word to the prisoner, and had him executed forthwith.
I fucking love logic puzzles.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 24, 2017 at 8:12 am
OMG Boru, that was hilarious!
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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 24, 2017 at 11:18 am
(November 23, 2017 at 11:09 pm)The Valkyrie Wrote: Someone will get it.
Probably from the UK.
If they don't get it they probably didn't get the 80's.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 24, 2017 at 2:46 pm
(November 23, 2017 at 8:21 am)ƵenKlassen Wrote: My favorite example of a paradox is:
"You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't."
What is yours?
Technically, that's a conundrum. My favorite paradoxes involve infinity, such as is infinity +1 the same size or bigger than just infinity?
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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 24, 2017 at 3:35 pm
(November 24, 2017 at 2:46 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: (November 23, 2017 at 8:21 am)ƵenKlassen Wrote: My favorite example of a paradox is:
"You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't."
What is yours?
Technically, that's a conundrum. My favorite paradoxes involve infinity, such as is infinity +1 the same size or bigger than just infinity?
Well, I got that statement from a Simpsons' episode called Bart the Genius.
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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 25, 2017 at 8:57 am
Paradox: There is a sign on your street reading 'READING THIS SIGN PUNISHABLE BY $50 FINE'.
If you read the sign, you've broken the law. If you don't read the sign, you don't know that you're not supposed to read it.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 25, 2017 at 9:03 am
I always tell lies.
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RE: What is a good example of a paradox?
November 25, 2017 at 12:14 pm
(This post was last modified: November 25, 2017 at 12:16 pm by Edwardo Piet.)
There are no true paradoxes, IMO, as they are all caused by either language ambiguities (or the fact that we have to do logic with language, and our own language isn't always up to the task with dealing with the ontology of the matter), but there are many examples of so-called paradoxes. The Liar's Paradox being the most classic example, but certainly IMO not being a true paradox. And not only do I not think there are true paradoxes, but I think that I know the solution to dissolving the Liar's Paradox, as do some other people, but the answer that I, and some others, suggest is by no means universally accepted. It doesn't mean the answer isn't correct however, just that the answer isn't accepted or understood by everyone.
(November 25, 2017 at 9:03 am)Dave B Wrote: I always tell lies.
Do you really believe that, or do you in fact believe that you sometimes tell lies?
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