Sunday, March 27, 2011

Awesome philosophical-ness.

Here's a random trick question that'll give you a headache.

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object?

If the force moves the object, then it is not unmovable. If the force doesn’t, the force is not unstoppable.

So, think about it. Keep thinking. Do ya have a headache yet?

ANSWER: This situation can never happen, as if there is an unstoppable force, there couldn’t be an unmovable object and vice versa. More interestingly, there can never be an unmovable object. An unmovable object would have to have infinite inertia, and therefore infinite mass. Infinite mass cannot exist in our finite universe, therefore an unmovable object cannot exist.

I am way to young to be as into psychology/philosophy as I am. Seriously. Guess what I've been thinking about?

Existence. RenĂ© Descartes' famous quote : I think, therefore I am. 

That means that you would always think, no matter what. Which means, if you are, for example, unconscious, then you are either thinking, or you don't exist. 

I don't know if unconscious people think, so that might not be a valid argument. 

Well, how about a dead person? Dead people don't think, so does that mean they don't exist? Well, actually, I guess they don't exist, at least, not in the way living people do. But can't people live on? Like, if you wrote a book, and people 50 years after you died read it, do you still exist? Technically, you do. You don't exist exist, physically, but you are there. Your words, what you created exists. Do that mean you exist?

Which brings me to two other questions. 1) Do fictional characters exist? They don't think, so does that mean they don't exist? That they aren't? 2) (A question I actually got from Supernatural, but it made me think.) Can you live without a soul?

So, let's tackle the first one. Being a writer, this question makes me think. Let's take Harry Potter, for example. Does he exist? In our world, no, he doesn't. He isn't a living, breathing, thinking thing. Does he do the thinking? No. But, then again, neither does a glass or a chair. But do they exist? Yes. They do. They don't think, but they are.

This is all assuming that Descartes was right. And, maybe he only meant "I" as in person, living, breathing, in the 'now'. Not objects, not people who aren't alive.

Anyway, let's tackle the next one. Can you live without a soul? First, we would have to assume that there's A) Soul - personality, emotions, etc., and B) Mind/body - physical feelings (Like, getting a cut or cramp; physical pain) thoughts, etc. 

If you look at it that way, then, yes, you technically could live; eat, breathe, etc. 

What about thoughts? They come from who you are, how you feel, what you see. So, would those be part of your personality? 

Well, I guess we can assume that there are two types of thoughts: Logical thinking, and emotional thinking.

Logical thinking would be, for example, 2+2=4. You could figure that out without a personality. 

Emotional thinking would be, "I like", "I hate", etc. Basically, its how you feel about what you observe about your surroundings. 

So, there's just something for you to think about. I know I do :D

Ok, well, that's all, folks.


No comments:

Post a Comment