Paradoxes!Pa

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

Paradoxes!Pa

Paradoxes!

Paradoxes are theoretical statements that cannot be proven right or wrong, and I just love them! Here are some of my favorites:

This statement is false:

If the statement is false, as stated, then the statement must be true. But if it's true then it's not false, so it can't be true.

The Pinocchio Paradox:

Pinocchio says, "My nose is going to grow."

If it's a lie, well, his nose will grow, so it's not a lie. But if it's not a lie his nose won't grow, so it is a lie. BOOM! PARADOX!

Post paradoxes you like here!

Cheerio, Phoenix Tears 

submitted by Phoenix Tears, age 12, Revolutionary Grape Jelly
(October 13, 2021 - 8:37 am)

I love paradoxes! Here's one I forgot the name of-

If two people are racing, and one gets a head start, in theory, the person who starts afterward would have to keep halving the distance between the two people, and therefore never fully catching up. I guess this doens't really count though, because it can be proven wrong... I don't know :p

One I kind of came up with (idk if it's a paradox or just a theoretical statement):

The only thing you can truly know is that you can't truly know anything (except that the only thing you can truly know is that you can't truly know anything except etc, etc.), because you can't actually prove anything. You can be 99.9999999999999999999% sure, but not 100%. You could alway be dreaming. For all we know, the sky is green and grass is purple and the most common pet for a cat to have is a human.

submitted by Fallen Leaf
(October 13, 2021 - 5:13 pm)

:D Love these! The second one is kind of like the subject of philosphy, where you question everything you perceive as factual.

I thought of this when you said the second one: is the Earth actually the goldfish tank of a higher power? Do they watch us going about our business every day, trapped in our little world? Probably not, but we can't be sure. :) 

submitted by Phoenix Tears, age 12, Revolutionary Grape Jelly
(October 14, 2021 - 10:07 am)

One paradox I like is the band called Nameless.  They're not nameless, because nameless is a name but then nameless means they don't have a name.  On second thought, I'm not sure that's a paradox after typing it out.  Thoughts on whether it's a paradox or not?

Also a good book full of paradoxes is Aha! Gotcha by Martin Gardner.

submitted by Peregrine
(October 14, 2021 - 10:17 am)

Say you went back in time and killed your mom.

(Why would you do that you evil being!)

Your mom would not have survived to give birth to you.  Therefore, you would not have existed to kill her.  Therefore, she still would have existed to have you, and you would have killed her, and she wouldn't have had you, and you wouldn't have killed her, and she would've had you, and you would have killed her, and she wouldn't've had you, and you wouldn't have killed her, and... 

submitted by Tsuki the Skywolf, age many moons
(October 14, 2021 - 10:29 am)

The going back in time ones are always the weirdest... they make my brain hurt so bad but I love them.

submitted by The Sage Wolf
(October 15, 2021 - 9:56 am)

*insert endgame hulk meme here *

The time travel ones are really cool, because depending on what theory you apply, it actually can make a lot of sense!! For example, if every time you travel back in time, you create a new alternate reality, you could technically um- yeah, you know what I mean- and actually still be safe, because it would only affect the version of you that exists in that alternate reality. 
submitted by Mantis, The garden
(October 22, 2021 - 9:42 am)

Random Thoughts Thread.

Nothing on the random thoughts thread is actually random. Sure, it would be random to post a comment about Minecraft on a Roleplay thread, but on the random thoughts thread, you expect to see random stuff. However, it is random to see expected stuff on a thread where stuff is supposed to be random, thus meaning that everything on that thread is random. 

So which is it?

 

I posted a comment like this one on the random thoughts thread a few months ago if anyone recognizes it.

Oh, one of my favorite shows, We Bare Bears on Cartoon Network, has a character who talks in 3rd person and is talking to someone who sells mouse pads (like a mini carpet of sorts for a computer mouse) with drawings and decor on them. The character who speaks in 3rd person is named Ice Bear and he says this:

 

"Ice Bear wants to by cat mouse pad. Loves paradox." 

 

Is he wrong though? 

submitted by Periwinkle, age Pi, Somewhere in the stars
(October 14, 2021 - 6:15 pm)

Procrastination: I like wasting time.

If you like wasting time, are you really wasting time at all? I actually saw this one first in the Random Thoughts Thread, so I did not make this one. But still, are you wasting time? 

..........

That is the only one I can think of now...oh well, I will add some more here if I can think of any.  

 

submitted by Neverseen , age She/Her, On a Perilous Journey
(October 16, 2021 - 2:52 pm)

I am lying.

Well, if I'm lying when I say that, I must be telling the truth. But if I'm lying I can't be telling the truth. 

submitted by Phoenix Tears, age 12, Revolutionary Grape Jelly
(October 19, 2021 - 12:33 pm)

Once my cousin had a book of paradoxes! There was one about black crows, and he confused my aunt with it. I think it was something about how if a scientist wanted to prove that all crows are black, they could look at each crow that is black, but they could also look at each thing that is not a crow and not black, like, I don't know, an office chair. That could be evidence to their claim. But I forgot if that is the actual paradox, or if it is something else. A lot of riddles are based off of paradoxes, to!

submitted by Caroline
(October 21, 2021 - 11:58 am)

I know one! 

"I always lie."

If you always lie, that is a lie (since it says that you always lie, which includes this time), but if you do always lie, it has to be a truth.

submitted by GoldenLionTamarin, CA
(October 25, 2021 - 7:48 pm)

This one is confusing as well. If you meet your future self, then you have to go back in time. But what if you don't? Would that change what happened between you meeting your future self and when you had to go back in time? Also! If you meet your past self, you would remember meeting your future self, so you would remember what happened!!! And, the first round of War (the card game) is already decided! When you shuffle your cards, it changes and then is decided!

submitted by Pancake, age No clue, River Lake
(October 26, 2021 - 3:35 pm)

Here is something that will make you go crazy. If someone says they have a secret, but they don't tell you, if you kept thinking about it and what it could be, you would go crazy. Also, if you wonder what would've happened if you answered a question differently, you would also go crazy.

Hey Admin. Do you enjoy reading these posts?

Yes, I do. I love hearing from all of you!

Admin

submitted by Pancake, age No clue, River Lake
(October 26, 2021 - 7:13 pm)

Actually, End Game has a major paradox. The avengers went back in time to get the stones. Then the past Thanos comes into the future. They kill the past Thanos, which means Thanos never destroyed half of the universe, which means the avengers never went back in time, which means that Thanos did destoy half the universe, and so on.

submitted by Pancake, age No clue, River Lake
(October 29, 2021 - 6:36 am)

Speaking of movie paradoxes, here is a paradox from Fiddler on the roof:

 

Tevye: You're right. As the good book says, if you spit in the air, it lands on your face.

Student from Kiev: That didn't prove my point. 

Rabbi's son: *points to Tevye* You're right, and *points to student from Kiev* you're also right. But they can't both be right.

Tevye: You're also right!

 

If both of them are right, they can't be right, because both the Rabbi's son and Tevye pointed out that they can't both be right, but they are both right, according to philosophy and the law of gravity as well as the Rabbi's son's statement, but according to the Rabbi's son and Tevye, they can't both be right, etc.

 

I'm actually not sure if that's a paradox or not now, though. But it is a very funny scene. 

submitted by GoldenLionTamarin, CA
(November 28, 2021 - 1:27 pm)