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I'm sure we all have come across some mind boggling paradox probably as we go about our everyday lives. Even our science fiction movies makes us think of possibilities like in "the flash" TV series when Barry Allen does his time traveling and creates trouble for the whole of Central City. Stuffs like how he got rid of the reverse flash and when he saved his mum from the reverse flash and created flash point. Time travel is really cool but but if it were possible it'd raise a number of questions like we would see in some of the paradoxes I'll be taking us today.
According to wikitionary, a statement which contradicts itself in this fashion is a paradox; two statements which contradict each other are an antinomy
A paradox is basically a statement that goes against logic. An example of a paradox is "Here are the rules: Ignore all rules". If you take a critical look at this statement, the rule is to to ignore all rules, this rule inclusive. If this rule was to be ignored too what do we do? Do were get to really follow the rules or just ignore the rules. I'm confused already, lol. Today, I'll be sharing some paradox you probably haven't heard of that'll keep you stunned. Yes, you heard me right stunned.
The twins paradox:
this is one of the repercussions of special relativity in physics. It is a thought experiment involving two similar organisms like identical twins. One stays on earth and one travels in a space shuttle with a speed approaching the speed of light to let's say some distant place in space. The twins who went to space returns some years later and would find the other twin look older than him. It is so because a moving clock runs slower than a stationary clock (one of the consequences of time dilation). Though it is just a thought experiment.
The liar's paradox
the liars paradox is one of the most common paradox. An example is writing "This sentence is false" somewhere, say a book. So let's analyse the sentence. If the sentence "This sentence is false" is found to be true, then it would be fair enough to say the statement is false. But if the statement is found to be false, then it must be true there lies the paradox. The statement keeps alternating between true and false and we can't say for sure if it is true or false.
Theseus's paradox
It is also called the ship of Theseus's paradox or grandfather's axe paradox. It is simply tries to answer a question posed by an ancient Greek philosopher Plutarch
"If the entirety of an object is replaced piece by piece, does it truly remain the same object in question?"
Let me explain this, suppose you have an axe which you use to, of course, chop wood. Through regular use of the axe, the handle gets damaged and you replaced the handle. After some time, the head also gets worn out and you also replaced the head of the axe. Now the paradox is does the axe you have now an entirely new axe or the same axe as the axe you had in the beginning. Well, let me leave it up to you to decide.
Pinocchio's paradox
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We all know Pinocchio, a fictional animation character. Pinocchio is a puppet that turns into a real boy sometimes. His nose grows longer whenever he tells a lie. Now let us assume Pinocchio said "My nose will grow longer". What happens does his nose really grow longer or not. We can't tell because he actually told a lie and we expect his nose to increase in length. But then if he told a lie intentionally hoping his nose would grow, then the statement made by Pinocchio becomes true but his nose doesn't grow cause the statement made wasn't a lie 😱. So what's the outcome of all this hassle? Could you solve this paradox?
Grandfather's Paradox
If you are a flash fan I'm sure you can remember how the reverse flash was gotten rid of. Eddie, detective Joe West partner killed himself cause reverse flash was one of his descendants. Although the flash didn't really portray this paradox, it showed a close case of the grandfather's paradox. This is the paradox, suppose you could go back in time to before you was born, or better still before neither of your parents was born could you possibly kill your grandfather. Let me share what I think, if you killed your grandfather, it eliminates your own existence in the future you came from and since you existence was wiped, I think your actions too should be wiped as well. So if your actions was erased, you couldn't have possibly travelled back in time and you also didn't kill your old man neither. And bang, you're still alive cause you'll be born. 😁
Here are some other cool paradoxes you could read on; zeno paradox and crocodile paradox.