Is impossibility possible?
- Thread starter Saul B
- Start date
In regards to mathematics and physics, some things truly are impossible.
Occurrences that seem very unlikely are usually, in fact, quite possible. It's just that no one really wants to expend the energy it would take to prove them.
Occurrences that seem very unlikely are usually, in fact, quite possible. It's just that no one really wants to expend the energy it would take to prove them.
Reaching the paradox means you hit the point after which there is no progress. You either decide to think of impossibility as something different from the set of "things" that could be possible, or simply state that by this outlook, everything and nothing is everything and nothing.
If, perhaps, you believe that paradoxes rule the world, then I might believe that you need simplify no further.
In statistics, however, I do not think we equate the chance of zero with impossibility. For example: when I ask you to pick any number, you have a set of numbers which cardinality is infinity. The chance of any one number being selected is zero. You will, however, most likely pick a number, and that is because there is a bias in the selective process. We all must recognize that we bring something to the table, and act not like mindless machines.
Maybe this is why we are prone to paradox? A computer would not have chosen anything. Its inability to deal with paradox, as a perfectly objective creature, prevents it from even asking the question. My evidence? Type 1/0 in your calculator. It's like asking 'where am I?' in an infinite universe. The question is senseless: you have a quantity that is divided among nothing- it is in zero existence, and yet by virtue of the question, the quantity exists. The question, then, becomes flawed and illegitimate.
Perhaps, then, you might want to ask a different question. We cannot solve this matter objectively, so let's solve something else: of what relevance is impossibility (not unlike asking what relevance does the small distance between 0.999... and 1 have)? None, as it is a set of things that cannot be and thus have no effect on us. Everything, since it is a set of things that cannot be and thus define our existence by opposing it.
Everything and nothing is everything and nothing.
Concluding anecdote:
There is an insurmountable mountain separating two tribes. Neither of them can climb it and see the other side, but since they realized that surmounting the mountain is impossible, they've stopped trying, assured that no one will climb from the other side and surprise them.
If, perhaps, you believe that paradoxes rule the world, then I might believe that you need simplify no further.
In statistics, however, I do not think we equate the chance of zero with impossibility. For example: when I ask you to pick any number, you have a set of numbers which cardinality is infinity. The chance of any one number being selected is zero. You will, however, most likely pick a number, and that is because there is a bias in the selective process. We all must recognize that we bring something to the table, and act not like mindless machines.
Maybe this is why we are prone to paradox? A computer would not have chosen anything. Its inability to deal with paradox, as a perfectly objective creature, prevents it from even asking the question. My evidence? Type 1/0 in your calculator. It's like asking 'where am I?' in an infinite universe. The question is senseless: you have a quantity that is divided among nothing- it is in zero existence, and yet by virtue of the question, the quantity exists. The question, then, becomes flawed and illegitimate.
Perhaps, then, you might want to ask a different question. We cannot solve this matter objectively, so let's solve something else: of what relevance is impossibility (not unlike asking what relevance does the small distance between 0.999... and 1 have)? None, as it is a set of things that cannot be and thus have no effect on us. Everything, since it is a set of things that cannot be and thus define our existence by opposing it.
Everything and nothing is everything and nothing.
Concluding anecdote:
There is an insurmountable mountain separating two tribes. Neither of them can climb it and see the other side, but since they realized that surmounting the mountain is impossible, they've stopped trying, assured that no one will climb from the other side and surprise them.
I understand what you mean, but in order to further the conversation I put this forward:Cpt. Red said:
1000 years we knew the world was flat.
Basically, no matter how advanced we take ourselves to be, in our case the highest due to lack of discovery of extraterrestrials, we can always be wrong.
P.S. I'm not saying the world is flat, I know it's round but it is seen in only three dimensions yada yada yada You get the point.
There are many, many things that are impossible due to the nature of the universe itself. The "Monkeys on a typewriter" example given in the OP does not take into account the fact that typing is generally not affected by any of the more complex realms of physics or mathematics.
For example, the monkeys never have to deal with the problems of escaping from within the event horizon of a black hole, nor do they have to prove that 1 = 0. Both of these are impossible, meaning that the OP's paradox (impossibility being impossible) does not exist.
Also, a side-note: The monkeys would die, and there will never be an infinite timespan in which monkeys can live.
For example, the monkeys never have to deal with the problems of escaping from within the event horizon of a black hole, nor do they have to prove that 1 = 0. Both of these are impossible, meaning that the OP's paradox (impossibility being impossible) does not exist.
Also, a side-note: The monkeys would die, and there will never be an infinite timespan in which monkeys can live.
No. There are many things that are impossible, not because it's unlikly, but because it truly cannot be done:
You cannot eat your own head
You cannot fall upwards
You cannot create a perpetual motion machine
You cannot make heat travel from a cold thing to a hot thing
You cannot make 1+1=4 (in conventional maths)
What you have said is right, but only concerning things within the metaphorical rulebook of the universe. The things I have said are impossible, either because they are logically paradoxes or because they break the laws of physics.
You cannot eat your own head
You cannot fall upwards
You cannot create a perpetual motion machine
You cannot make heat travel from a cold thing to a hot thing
You cannot make 1+1=4 (in conventional maths)
What you have said is right, but only concerning things within the metaphorical rulebook of the universe. The things I have said are impossible, either because they are logically paradoxes or because they break the laws of physics.
Impossibility is an absolute, possibility is potential, absolutes have, basically and mostly for a lack of better words, never been 100% true which means that most absolutes are simply not. A simpler way of dealing with this is to create situations in which something becomes an impossibility within a set of parameters that will hold true 100% of the time assuming the rules stay the same 100% of the time, that way you can have your absolute but it is important to know that you will get rather dictatorial after a while in order to maintain the rules of the situation, and that the moment you change the rules whatever was impossibly before will probably become possible after making the change.
Actually, on that fourth point, you can. It's horrendously inefficient but it is possible; ever heard of thermoelectric cooling?ThreeWords said:
Damn! Now its only a matter of time till someone proves that 1+1=4, using a perpetual motion that falls upwards. At least if he eats his own head he won't be able to say so...ILPPendant said:
I've proved 1+1=4 too. Go to this thread. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.111279] Since I've shown 1=-1 then 2=0 so 4=2=1+1 QED.ThreeWords said: