Thread of Paradoxes: Make Your Head Explode!

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Discussion Overview

This thread explores various paradoxes and mind-bending concepts, inviting participants to share their favorite examples. The discussion encompasses philosophical, linguistic, and logical paradoxes, as well as humorous observations related to language and definitions.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant introduces the paradox of Pinocchio stating, "My nose will grow," questioning the implications of truth and lies.
  • Another participant presents the Ship of Theseus paradox, asking whether a ship remains the same after all its parts have been replaced and what it means if the original parts are reassembled.
  • A participant raises the barber paradox, questioning whether a barber who shaves all men who do not shave themselves can shave himself.
  • Several humorous observations are made about language, such as why we drive on parkways and park on driveways, and why 'abbreviation' is a long word.
  • Participants share various examples of paradoxes, including references to Catch-22 and the nature of truth.
  • Some participants discuss the nature of definitions and spelling, questioning how one can look up a word if they do not know how to spell it.
  • There are multiple references to visual paradoxes and humorous images shared by participants, with some expressing confusion over their meanings.
  • One participant suggests that the existence of the universe itself is a paradox, leading to a broader discussion about reality and paradoxes.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a variety of paradoxes and humorous observations, but there is no consensus on the interpretations or implications of these paradoxes. The discussion remains open-ended with multiple competing views and interpretations.

Contextual Notes

Some statements rely on subjective interpretations of paradoxes and humor, and the definitions of terms are not universally agreed upon. The discussion includes a mix of serious and light-hearted contributions, which may affect the clarity of the arguments presented.

Kronos5253
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I thought it might be fun to have a thread to make your head explode! By means of posting some of your favorite mind-bending paradoxes.

I just heard a new one (for me) today that I thought was pretty good, thought I'd share!

What if Pinocchio said "My nose will grow"?
 
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Suppose you have a ship in which one part fails each week. You replace the old broken part with a new part, scrapping the old part in some junk yard. Over the course of a few years, you have scrapped every original piece of the ship for new parts because all the old pieces of the ship broke. Is this the same ship? Here's the kicker: if we take all the original pieces and put them back together (suppose we repair them or whatever to make the parts work again) to make the same 'old' ship, is this the same ship? Does this mean we have two of the same ship?
 
Kronos5253 said:
What if Pinocchio said "My nose will grow"?

well, Pinocchio also said that he always lies...

Pupil said:
Does this mean we have two of the same ship?

that's how we had a few extra air planes in the air force.
 
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The adult male barber who shaves all men who do not shave themselves, and no one else. Can he shave himself?

If there is an exception to every rule, then every rule must have at least one exception, the exception to this one being that it has no exception.

Is the word "heterological", meaning "not applicable to itself," a heterological word?

A law student agrees to pay his teacher after winning his first case. The teacher then sues the student (who has not yet won a case) for payment.

If truth does not exist, the statement "truth does not exist" is a truth, thereby proving itself incorrect.
 
Andre said:
well, Pinocchio also said that he always lies...

True, but that in itself is a lie, so his nose would just grow
 
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," Yossarian observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.
 
A dog once told me that dogs can't talk.
 
Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

Why do we call the year having an extra day a "leap year"? Where is the leap?

Hot-water heaters

Why is there no mouse-flavored cat food? Why don't we find catfood made from mouse?

Why is there cat food made from vegetables?
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Hot-water heaters

Hahahahaahahaha... I've never thought about that before, but I have to admit, I literally laughed out loud when I read that one
 
  • #10
Women
 
  • #11
Why do two planes have a near-miss rather than a near-hit?
 
  • #12
Why is 'abbreviation' such a long word?

(Of course, these aren't paradoxes.)
 
  • #13
And why is Dyslexia so hard to spell
 
  • #14
If you don't know how to spell a word, how can you look it up?
 
  • #15
Paradoxes are just roundabout ways of saying "X is not X"
 
  • #16
What is a synonym for thesaurus?
 
  • #17
jimmysnyder said:
If you don't know how to spell a word, how can you look it up?

More importantly, if you don't know how to spell a word, how would you know that you've found it after looking it up? :bugeye:
 
  • #18
junglebeast said:
More importantly, if you don't know how to spell a word, how would you know that you've found it after looking it up? :bugeye:

That's why dictionaries give definitions. Also, you must have a rough idea how to spell a word so you simply look in the general area (for example if you can't spell aerodynamic, you would look for things like airo and if it isn't there you move onto aero.) and find the one you want (check it against the definition). Obviously, a few exceptions are things like xylophone, where, if you can't spell it you really are s******.

Then again, these days simply misspell it in google and it will give you the correct spelling. "Did you mean..."
 
  • #19
If we want to check if human logic is right, we have to use... human logic.
 
  • #20
DaveC426913 said:
Why is 'abbreviation' such a long word?

mgb_phys said:
And why is Dyslexia so hard to spell

And shouldn't there be a shorter word for 'monosyllabic'?
Return to the OP...

What is the set of all things that don't belong to a set?
 
  • #21
Chi Meson said:
What is the set of all things that don't belong to a set?
And again XKCD imitates life...

http://xkcd.com/468/"
 
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  • #22
I'm looking for the wrong thread to post this. Is this the wrong thread?
 
  • #23
Chi Meson said:
What is the set of all things that don't belong to a set?

That would be the notaset.
 
  • #24
jarednjames said:
That's why dictionaries give definitions. Also, you must have a rough idea how to spell a word so you simply look in the general area (for example if you can't spell aerodynamic, you would look for things like airo and if it isn't there you move onto aero.) and find the one you want (check it against the definition). Obviously, a few exceptions are things like xylophone, where, if you can't spell it you really are s******.

Then again, these days simply misspell it in google and it will give you the correct spelling. "Did you mean..."

I wasn't being literal :wink:
 
  • #25
My favorite paradox:

http://comps.fotosearch.com/comp/THK/THK280/two-doctors_~e00010593.jpg

:biggrin:
 
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  • #26
Brian: "You are all individuals!"
Crowd: "We are all individuals!"
Individual:"I'm not."



DaveC426913's Corollary A:

He: "Every person is different."
Me: "That is a generalization. I, for one, am not different."


DaveC426913's Corollary B:

She: "All the drawers in this cabinet are different sizes. Except the bottom one."
 
  • #27
Tsu said:
My favorite paradox:

http://comps.fotosearch.com/comp/THK/THK280/two-doctors_~e00010593.jpg

:biggrin:
Identical twins?
 
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  • #28
EnumaElish said:
Identical twins?
Yeah. I didn't get it either. Too subtle for me.
 
  • #29
DaveC426913 said:
Yeah. I didn't get it either. Too subtle for me.
I'm at a loss, I was looking for a paradox, but all I saw was a pair o' docs. What gives?
 
  • #30
jimmysnyder said:
I'm at a loss, I was looking for a paradox, but all I saw was a pair o' docs. What gives?
This reminds me that I need to see an eye doc.
 

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