Life is full of unexplainable mysteries that can make you dizzy just thinking about them. Lovers of intense intellectual stimulation had better put on their thinking caps—read on!
The tolerance paradox
Tolerance is a universally respected value, but being tolerant of everything means tolerating…intolerance. If we tolerate the intolerable, there’s going to be a lot of intolerance.
Holey cheese
Consider a cheese with holes, like Emmental. The more cheese you have, the more holes there are. But, the more holes there are, the less cheese you have. So, if you think about it, the more cheese there is, the less cheese there is! This is called a syllogism, a form of reasoning drawn from propositions that, while true, don’t necessarily lead to a logical conclusion.
Schrödinger’s Cat
To explain quantum physics, physicist Erwin Schrödinger imagined a fictitious experiment in which a cat is placed in a box equipped with a device that would kill the animal as soon as a radioactive atom disintegrated (after about an hour). Once the appropriate time had passed, Schrödinger asked, “Is the cat dead or alive?” Of course, if we opened the box, we’d know for sure one way or the other. Schrödinger concluded that, as long as the box remained closed, the cat could be considered simultaneously dead and alive! Note: no animal was mistreated during this thought experiment.
The chicken or the egg
We’re all familiar with the dilemma. If the chicken came first, where did it come from? However, if the egg came first, where is the chicken that laid it? The mystery remains unsolved to this day, even for the most serious geneticists. We may know that the chicken is the evolutionary product of several species going back to the dinosaurs, but we still can’t say what came first. The egg or the dinosaur? We could even apply this existential question to humans!
The blank page
The paradox of the blank page has nothing to do with writer’s block, a condition suffered by authors who lack inspiration. The blank page paradox refers to the pages of a document on which the phrase “This page intentionally left blank” is sometimes written, rendering the statement false by its very existence.
The Condorcet paradox
Have you ever had the impression that election results were not the product of rational thinking? Even when the response to certain issues seems unanimous? This is caused by the Condorcet paradox. Condorcet, a mathematician who lived during the Enlightenment, noticed that when individuals must choose between three options, the most popular option doesn’t necessarily win because the presence of a third choice impacts the other two. It’s a bit like playing rock, paper, scissors. Having only two options wouldn’t be much fun. Three choices mean those scissors are always foiling our plan! Or, could it be the rock?
The friendship paradox
Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t invented anything new. The majority of people, on average, have fewer friends than their friends have. This is the friendship paradox. Think of an enormous social network as a web in which everyone is an interconnected point. You’ll notice that some people have more friends than others. These friends, in turn, are connected to others in the network. Such social animals, however, are in the minority.
The Labyrinth liar
Do you recall the film Labyrinth? Yes, you remember the movie with David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, and no end! At one point in the film, the character Sarah finds herself standing before two doors, one leading to a castle, the other to certain death. She is allowed to ask only one question of the two guards, one of whom always tells the truth while the other always lies. To illustrate her dilemma, one guard says that the other lies all the time, while the accused liar responds that he always tells the truth. Both guards could be either the one who lies or the one who tells the truth! How can we identify which door is which? Sarah knows. She asks one of the guards, “Would he (pointing to the other guard) tell me that this door leads to the castle?” The guard says yes, and Sarah chooses the other door. We’ll let you figure out why!
The Abilene paradox
Group decisions are always bad, at least according to the Abilene paradox. In this illustration of group dynamics conceived by sociologist Jerry Harvey, a man suggests to his family that they travel to Abilene. His son-in-law doesn’t want to, but accepts so that his wife can spend more time with her family. His wife and her mother acquiesce to the wishes of everyone else. Upon their return, they realize that the father had only suggested the trip to please the others, and that they had accepted to avoid displeasing everyone else, while, in reality, no one had wanted to go.
The hedgehog dilemma
A group of hedgehogs gathers together to stay warm, but must also keep their distance to avoid injuring one another. The hedgehog dilemma illustrates the paradox of close relationships that, while advantageous, can also harm those involved. Sigmund Freud often referred to this allegory when seeking to understand human relationships. The expression, “You're smothering me!” works, too!
The prisoner dilemma
Two prisoners, partners in crime, are presented with the following three choices: if one denounces the other, he will be freed while his accomplice will be sentenced to ten years in prison; if they denounce each other, they will both get five years in jail; and if neither prisoner denounces the other, both will serve only six months for lack of evidence. Because they are not allowed to consult with each other, there is a high risk of mutual denunciation in the hope of getting the lightest sentence—since, if they are going to be denounced by the other, saying nothing will only result in the maximum sentence, and if one of them does not denounce the other, the latter could be freed by speaking up. Naturally, both make the rational choice and receive sentences of five years. However, if they had cooperated, their sentences would have been much reduced.
The tyranny of the majority
A direct democracy surely reflects the interest of the people to a greater degree than a representative democracy, right? Not necessarily. The tyranny of the majority, an effect of direct democracy, may result in decisions made by the majority that end up harming minority groups.
The voting system dilemma
In democracies that practise single-round, simple majority voting, the public regularly complains that individual votes lack representation. In essence, each vote doesn’t really count because the assembly is composed of candidates from each constituency. As a result, a blue vote in a majoritarily red constituency has no effect on the makeup of the assembly. Even if a majority of voters choose blue, the red party could still win if they succeed in electing more representatives. The problem is that a party that promises to reform this type of voting because it puts them at a disadvantage will be tempted to break that promise once elected. After all, they finally managed to win thanks to that very voting system.
The tree in the forest
If a tree falls in the forest, but no one is there to hear it, did it make a sound? Think about it…
The Treachery of Images
While that famous Magritte painting clearly shows a pipe, the painter would insist that it is not a pipe! Nevertheless, when we look at the painting, we would surely say it is a pipe. After all, it’s presumably how it would be described in any children’s book explaining everyday objects. As it turns out, it is not a pipe, it is only the representation of a pipe.
Back to the future
If we could travel back in time and kill one of our parents before we were born, we would never have come into the world, but then we could not have travelled back in time to kill one of our parents, so we would still be alive! Woof! So much for controlling our destinies!
The abundance paradox
The rarer something is, the more interest it garners, while the more abundant and easy to access something is, the more people view it with indifference. Mathematicians and economists have been seriously analyzing this theory, but any parent of a four‑year‑old has experienced it first-hand.
Do we really exist?
Does the universe and everything in it really exist, or is it simply a figment of our imaginations? If it does exist, who are you? Where is your psyche? Who wrote this text? Are you in my head, or am I in yours? WHAT?
The beginning of the world
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, but who created God? Whatever your religious beliefs or extent of scientific knowledge may be, how the world began is a mystery that no one, not even Neil deGrasse Tyson, can solve.
The Penrose stairs
Is this staircase forever going up or endlessly descending? Where exactly does it lead? Nowhere! The geneticist Lionel Penrose conceived this impossible figure just to mess with your mind!
Judith Lussier,Espresso
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