For example, consider a situation in which a father and son are driving down the road. The car collides with a tree and the father is killed. The boy is rushed to the nearest hospital where he is prepared for emergency surgery. On entering the surgery suite, the surgeon says, "I can't operate on this boy. He's my son."

I was trying to find out what a paradox was and this was an example. There are different "solutions" but the ones that were described was not what I was thinking. I was thinking that the father killed is actually a grandfather and the son is the grandson, and the surgeon is the dad.

Edit: nvm I'm completely off, it said dad and son

geometryb

United States1249 Posts

June 29 2008 05:14 GMT

is the surgeon the mom?
or it could be someone else's father. father just being the word for any one's dad

micronesia

United States24757 Posts

June 29 2008 05:16 GMT

I have no idea what you are asking or where trying to ask. Do you simply want help understanding what a paradox is? I don't think that's even remotely a good example...

il0seonpurpose

Korea (South)5638 Posts

June 29 2008 05:18 GMT

I think I get the general idea of what a paradox is, do you have any other examples?

ilovejonn

Canada2548 Posts

June 29 2008 05:18 GMT

On June 29 2008 14:16 micronesia wrote:
I have no idea what you are asking or where trying to ask. Do you simply want help understanding what a paradox is? I don't think that's even remotely a good example...

exactly my question

ilovejonn

Canada2548 Posts

June 29 2008 05:19 GMT

Example: You must be cruel only to be kind.

edit: and i searched for this one, pretty awesome;

"War is peace."
"Freedom is slavery."
"Ignorance is strength."
(George Orwell, 1984)

blabber

United States4448 Posts

June 29 2008 05:22 GMT

here's one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem

Atrioc

United States1865 Posts

June 29 2008 05:26 GMT

that is a bad example of a traditional paradox

i read the wikipedia article though and apparantly there are many varieties of paradox that all fall under that name

i think the best, most simple example for how most people use paradox though is

"This statement is false"

because its a logical loop with no possible solution. if the statement is true, then it cant be true, and if its false then it must be true, but that would mean its false again. ta-da its a paradox.

B1nary

Canada1267 Posts

June 29 2008 05:30 GMT

I remember running into a site a while back with a bunch of nice paradoxes. I'll try digging it up again.

Couldn't find it, but here's another decent one:
http://perspicuity.net/paradox/paradox.html

Nitrogen

United States5345 Posts

June 29 2008 05:32 GMT

#10

On June 29 2008 14:22 blabber wrote:
here's one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem

Why is it goat themed?

brian

United States9639 Posts

June 29 2008 05:41 GMT

#11

neither the ops example nor blabbers link is paradox.

ops example is just a riddle. the surgeon is the mother. a play on sexist thoughts

blabbers is just a probability question that noone understands.(i've actually done three presentations on it, and from the start i thought it was the most well known counter-intuitive probabiltiy question out there, and it seems more and more that i was wrong.)

atrioc got the best description i think. i'll try to put it in words real quick. Best i can think of so far is a statement or argument that cannot have any logical solution, such that the statement or argument when followed through always produces a falsity(contradiction).

blabber

United States4448 Posts

June 29 2008 06:10 GMT

#12

isn't a paradox just something that goes against what people would usually think the answer is

spec. opps

United States127 Posts

June 29 2008 06:49 GMT

#13

this is a paradox!

sigma_x

Australia285 Posts

June 29 2008 07:44 GMT

#14

I once did a major work on paradoxes (in poetry form, but really rooted in mathematics). My main reference texts were, "paradoxes from A to Z" by michael clarke, and an expensive green cambridge book which i can't seem to find.

The sorites paradox is a neat little one, "A pile of 10,000 grains is a heap. If we remove a single grain, then it is still a heap. If we remove two grains, it is still a heap. If we remove three grains, it is still a heap... if we continue this line of logic, then 1 grain is a heap".

drug_vict1m

844 Posts

June 29 2008 08:31 GMT

#15

On June 29 2008 15:49 spec. opps wrote:
this is a paradox!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHrKzi4R0aQ

that's so sick.i love it.

raiame

United States421 Posts

June 29 2008 08:34 GMT

#16

I just wasted an hour on this (well, not wasted, but on http://perspicuity.net/paradox/paradox.html). I don't know whether to love you or to hate you, B1nary. Time to sleep.

FuJi

United States104 Posts

June 29 2008 08:53 GMT

#17

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_22#Concept

I believe the idea in this book is a good example of a paradox.

+ Show Spoiler +

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.