A friend of mine loves paradoxes. For the uninitiated, a paradox is a statement that contradicts itself and yet might be true (or wrong at the same time), such as 'This sentence is false'.
I have a friend that loves these paradoxes and likes discussing them with me. Previous conversation topics included the time travel paradox, where we both agreed that you cannot change the past. In other words, if you go back in time and kill a baby who you think was Donald Trump, then you either killed the wrong baby, or something will stop you, or today's Donald Trump was actually another baby which replaced the one you killed.
Another famous one is what happens when Pinocchio says 'My nose will now grow'. This one is harder, because you can slightly reword it. If you don't specify a time period, then you're trying to predict the future, which you can't lie about (since you don't know). If you specify a time period such as 'at this instant', the nose can grow as soon as the instant is over. If you specify a period in the future, you are again trying to predict. If you use 'now', the period is general enough to allow the paradox to kick-in. We actually agree with Fabio Rodrigues's opinion (although we did not actually reach it on our own) that he says it and his nose grows. This way, he tells the truth, which is not an impediment to his nose growing.
The latest paradox he told me about was related with God. Let's work under the assumption that being all-powerful still doesn't allow you to defy logic (so you can't get 1 + 1 = 3, even if you're God). Quoting my friend, "If God is all powerful, can he create a rock that he can't lift?" This is quite interesting, since if he can't lift it, then he is not all powerful, but if he can lift all rocks, then he can't create that one, so he is not all powerful. This got me confused for a few weeks, but eventually I found the solution, which is exceedingly simple.
As I was discussing this with another friend (and about to tell him my idea), his argument was the same as regular believers' arguments, that an imperfect being cannot comprehend a perfect being. He would be able to lift it, and at the same time, not lift it (Schrodinger's rock?). While I agree that our knowledge is limited by our experience (we can't imagine new colors, or more than 3 dimensions), I still think we can imagine perfection, something that adapts to all and evolves and comprehends and is.
Anyway, my solution is a lot simpler. God is all powerful, God can create that rock. As soon as he does, he stops being all powerful. Elegant, isn't it? It makes sense that an all powerful being can create something better than himself. He is all powerful, but that doesn't mean there will never be something better. If God was indestructible and he created a copy of himself, both Gods would not be all powerful, since they couldn't destroy one another.
All in all, I'd really like to have that rock. Any interesting paradox you wish to share?
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