• Question: how does a paradox work

    Asked by nedyaj to Joel, Kristian, Tim, Venus, Zachary on 20 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Tim Hollowood

      Tim Hollowood answered on 20 Nov 2013:

      Hi nedyaj, a paradox is just a puzzle or inconsistency. So in physics if we have a theory that seems to say that A is true and B is true but if A is inconsistent with B then there’s a problem. Usually it will turn out that either A or B is not true…in other words you made a mistake. But maybe the theory itself is simply wrong and there must be a better one.

    • Photo: Kristian Harder

      Kristian Harder answered on 20 Nov 2013:

      You could say that a paradox does NOT work, that’s the point of it. 🙂 If you encounter a paradox, it means you get contradictory or impossible conclusions following some assumptions you made. And if that’s the case, then you should conclude that at least one of your assumptions was wrong!

    • Photo: Zachary Williamson

      Zachary Williamson answered on 21 Nov 2013:

      Hi nedyaj. A paradox is when you take some assumptions that are considered to be true, and use those to form a logical conclusion that’s considered to be false (or vice-versa).

      e.g. ‘nobody goes to that restaurant, it’s too crowded’.
      There are two starting assumptions here:
      1: The restaurant is crowded
      2: Nobody likes going to crowded restaurants.

      The logical conclusion is therefore that nobody goes to the restaurant. However that’s a paradox because we know the restaurant *is* full.

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