Forums → The Tavern → Unstoppable force vs. Unmovable object (discussion about paradoxes)

I quite like the Grandfather paradox. You travel back in time and kill your grandfather before... You know...

well if you kill your grandfather, you would cease to exist in the fabric of space and time, you wouldnt even die, you would just cease to exist.

yes, i meant before he had kids.

Nice ones, zakyman and master565.

Here's one of my own.

"The only rule: there are no rules."

But if you kill your grandfather before he has kids, you won't exist to kill him, so he will live to have kids and you will exist to kill him so he won't live to have kids so... etc.

Imagine that you're sister is actually your mom who is actually your daughter who traveled back in time to marry your dad who is actually your cousins great grandad who traveled foward in time to see what it would be like and married your daughter which made them get your brother who was adopted and should have been your real father but he wasn't at the bowling alley where he should have met your mother and thus means that you are living a parallel life which you have to change!

But, its not a paradox because it makes sense

But, its not a paradox because it makes sense.

Hey, I don't want to be a stick in the mud, but I am surprised that no one has posted the technical answer to the paradox in the title.

For an object to be unmovable, it would have to have an infinite mass, which is impossible in a finite universe. Also, for a force to be unstoppable, it would have to have an infinite amount of energy, again impossible in an finite universe. Sorry for quashing the fun

Wat?

Here is a popular one.

Achicken lays an egg. In turn, that egg will become a chicken. That very chicken will go back in time to lay an egg which becomes the chicken who lays him and it go's on forever!

( Ok, mabye it isn't even known never mind popular.

right when i saw this topic i was thinking "wtf is all this" then i read the list posted by johnmerz and now i love these things they make me think about stuff

Here's one I read in the Deltora Quest series of books by Emily Rodda:

A deadly giant has blocked the passage of the three main characters, and refuses to grant passage unless the characters individually answer riddles. The first two pass, and it is the turn of the third, Lief.

Giant: We will play a game. Say any one statement. If what you say is true, I will cut your head off. If what you say is false, I will throw you off this cliff

Leif: [Thinking, well, what's the better way to die? Beheaded, or tossed of a cliff... wait a second I have it!]
You will throw we off this cliff.

And the giant goes on to explode because he didn't serve his purpose.
I thought that one interesting when I read it.