Last weekend, some friends and I were guests at a wedding reception. Afterwards, on the taxi-drive home, the conversation turned to goal-setting.
"I'm sick of goal-setting," I said. "This year, I'm going to set myself just one goal: not to achieve any goals."
My beer-soaked brain turned this over for a few moments, and then I exclaimed, "Hey - that's a paradox! If I don't achieve any goals then I've achieved my goal... which means I've failed to achieve it. But that means I've achieved it after all. Which means I've failed to achieve it. Which means..."
"Who brought him?" grumbled someone from the back of the taxi.
"Not me. I've never seen him before in my life," my wife replied.
Which just goes to show how unappreciated we philosophers are. I invent a brand-new paradox, and am repaid with scorn. Now I know how Socrates felt.
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Step away from that hemlock! I'd like to read more sometime :-)
ReplyDeleteI am reading This Book Does Not Exist Adventures in the Paradoxical. Which I am thoroughly enjoying. I think the probability problem of the Smiths on page 86 is inaccurate. In considering permutations the birth order of the girls should have been used but only the birth order of the possible boy was. This would add a 4th possible permuation and the probability of the other child being a girl is 2/4 not 1/3. John
ReplyDeleteHi John. Gary here. You're not the first person to detect an apparent error here. But the solution in my book is, in fact, the correct one. Follow the discussion here: http://forums.philosophyforums.com/threads/error-in-book-38950.html
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