Sunday, April 15, 2007

Cracking Stone's Paradox

Note: Read my last post World is a Paradox before continuing further.

An interesting way, G.B. Keene dissolved the Paradox of Philosopher’s stone is by the formulation of the question - "Can God create a stone so heavy that can't lift it." The answer has to be "No" to prove the omnipotence inconsistency. So, the obvious negative answer: "God can not create such a stone or He can't lift it" or "There is no rock God can create so heavy that he can't lift."

But the inconsistency is arising due to the negative approach (grammatical form) -"God cannot ...". But if the answer to the question is framed in positive approach - "Any rock God can create, He can lift it", it further proves theist's view of His omnipotence.

Finally, it turns out to be the choice - Positive or Negative.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

World is a Paradox

I believe in God. And I feel God is omnipotent – all powerful and can do anything. But recently I happened to see the argument disproving “God is omnipotent”. The argument goes like this – “If God can create a stone so heavy that He can’t lift it then He is omnipotent. Strange, don’t you think so? It’s obvious from the argument that if God can’t create such a stone he is not omnipotent. And if he can create such a stone still he is omnipotent as he can’t lift it. Yeah, this is a paradox and is called Paradox of Philosopher’s stone. Isn’t this interesting?

Of course, not just the stone, it will do with any simple contradictory statements like “If God can prove He is not omnipotent, He is omnipotent.” This is not just about proving God is not omnipotent. This proves that no one can be omnipotent.

Okay, let’s get into the field of Mathematics. Like many I am too not comfortable with it. My friend asked me, “Is 1000000 a big positive integer?” I may be not that good at Mathematics but I can answer this simple question. I answered “Yes”. Then he continued, “Is 1 a small positive integer?” I replied, “It is the smallest “. “ If n is a small positive integer, then n+1 is also small integer. What do you say?” Of course it is correct. He ended, “Then every integer is a small integer. And 100000 is also a small integer”. ”Yes, but no,” I am confused. I thought mathematicians like magicians they work for hours and hours on imaginary things (variables). Today I can say, these mathematicians are also crazy, they can prove anything, even 1 = 0.

I will end this post with a famous Liar’s paradox. - A man says that he is lying; is what he says true or false?

Monday, April 02, 2007

Bird's Language

A parrot entered inside into Ashwin’s flat through windows. His family members were delighted viewing it so close. It is beautiful and colorful. When he extended his hand it simply holds his fingers with its legs and watches others with out any fear. Ashwin is thrilled to have a parrot in his hands for the first time in his life.

After some time the parrot seemed restless. Ashwin thought that it might be hungry. So he got some pea nuts and offered to it. When it didn’t eat they placed a glass of water in front of it. It drank and started flying inside the room. Ashwin’s elder brother said, “Now it’s already 6 P.M and getting late for it. If it becomes too dark, it can’t return to its nest. So leave it outside the window and that is what it might be looking for." Though Ashwin doesn’t want to send it back, he opened a window and kept the parrot on the window pane. It returned again into the room and so this time he kept on a protruding slab outside the window and closed the doors. The parrot while trying to enter the room hit itself against the window glass and started falling on the ground. It disappeared into a tree and no one was able to find whether it is hurt or not.

Now Ashwin is sad and said to God angrily, “You made us really stupid. Why didn’t you give us the ability to understand a bird’s language? If you had given the power at least to me, the parrot would have been safe.”

When Ashwin’s brother heard these words he too felt depressed for his misinterpretation of the bird’s deeds. Suddenly his mother shouted from the kitchen, “The baby is crying, some one give the milk bottle to the baby.” Answin’s brother got surprised how his mother is able to understand that the baby is hungry just listening to its cry.

Past, Present and Future - All are abstract.