Paradoxes and Dilemmas #5-When Did You Stop?

The age-old classic paradox:
"When did you stop (beating your wife)?"
Answering yes or no is not a good idea.
But this paradox is bypassable.
You can answer with "I have never beat my wife", and it is bypassed.

Daily Wondering #29-Hobby, Habit, and Job

As a blogger, I find doing this a mix of these three words.
Hobby, Habit, and Job.
I tell other people I do this as a hobby.
To me it seems like it is a habit.
And I feel like you guys think this is a job.
What separates these?

Daily Wondering #28-To and Back and In Between

What is a journey?
It could apply to so many different things, but where does it apply to for you?
There are a lot of journeys, as in stories, and personal lives, etc...
Personally, a journey is whatever you make it. It doesn't have to be long or short, all things are just interpretation.
So if you interpret something as something, that becomes whatever you interpreted it as.
This doesn't always work, as our brains are somewhat locked to one interpretation.

Daily Wondering #27-Thresholds

What are the thresholds for things that don't have a definite threshold?
For example, when is a mix of two colors one of the other colors?
Are there even thresholds for such things?

Daily Wondering #26-Acceptance

My deepest condolences to anyone who has been affected in the Orlando terrorist attack, by the way.

Attacks like these only happen because humans cannot learn to accept.
We are all humans, it doesn't matter who you are.
Why accepting all people as people is so difficult is astounding to me...
Why do you think we can't learn to accept?

Daily Wondering #25-Limit of Evolution

All beings evolve, with the purpose of improving.
But is there a limit to this?
Is there a time when we have evolved so much we can no longer evolve any more?
What do you think?
I say the limit is so far in the future it appears to be endless... for now.

Daily Wondering #24-The Deeper Root of Sentience

What is sentience?
Sentience seems to be required in order to feel and think.
But why does it exist?
Why must we be sentient?
There seems to be no meaning in anything.
Nothing really exists.
So is sentience all that important?

Daily Wondering #23-What is Emotion?

What is emotion?
It is something humans have.
Probably it comes with sentience.
But what is it?

Daily Wondering #22-Patterns?

What are patterns?
And what really defines that something is a pattern?
For one example, does it only take two similar results to form a pattern?
Or does it take more?
Patterns are different for each object...

Random Stories #3-Oddity

There is a deeper meaning to this story!

A cube awakened in an odd world. It was a very peculiar and unique world. Everything was either black or white. There was no other colors.

As the cube looked around, (somehow, as the cube was just a cube with no other features) he noticed the world was just odd shapes.

It was an odd world indeed...

The cube then proceeded to move around a bit.

He saw some moving blocks and other sentient cubes.

Nothing really interested him.

He moved forward a bit, and fell into a hole.

He tried to jump out, but he couldn't jump high enough.

The cube was frustrated...

Another cube passing by, and ripped some nearby blocks off of a blocky stack.

This other cube proceeded to create a small rope, then offered it to the cube in the hole.

In this way, the other cube got the cube in the hole out of the hole, and the two then became friends, it cubes could do that.

The two met many more challenges, such as spike pits, chasms, and tall walls. But every time they managed to surpass whatever obstacle was thrown at them.

But then, they came to a chasm so great they were unable to cross it with any method.

So one of the cubes melted its own body apart to form a bridge. Although the other cube made it past, using its companion as a bridge, the cube was saddened.

And so the cube stood beside the bridge... and never left...

The cube remains beside the very bridge today...

Daily Wondering #21-Exclusion

Humans are good at excluding and at finding the odd one out in a group.
This leads to problems like racism.
But exclusion isn't always bad, like the case of quarantine.
So when is it good or bad?

Paradoxes and Dilemmas #4-Numerical Sense

What are numbers?

This is one of the greatest paradoxes of all time.

Numbers are concepts that humans have defined in order to adapt to the world better... they are merely tools...

But how can we be sure they work universally?

Humans define them to work universally, and it would appear everything is countable... but what if there was something that could not be counted?

Would it just be a void?

But even then, there would still be the number 0...

Something that could not be counted is still out of human grasp...

Daily Wondering #20-Norms

Norms are what humans are probably the best at setting.
We are terrible at setting goals, horrible at setting plans that will work, etc.
But norms, that is another completely different story.
When we set norms, what is not within the norm is immediately excluded.
We humans seem to be very good at excluding (look at all the racism, etc.)
Defining what is normal...
But do humans have the ability to do so?
Humans can define something and say it is true, but that does not necessarily make it true.
As a matter of fact, nothing is 100% true.
So why should norms be?
Humans ought to try and live life... without the norms.

Daily Wondering #19-Fear in General

Fear is a major emotion in the human brain.
we have each felt it at one point or another.
What really causes fear?
Humans are all afraid of different things, but why?
What is there to be feared at all?
Death is just a sudden end, just as all things mjst end.
There os nothing to be feared from the unknown, or death, orvirtually anything else.

Daily Wondering #18-Fear of the Unknown

What is the one thing that is feared by nearly all?

Death, loss, and spiders seem to be common.

But there really is one thing nearly everyone fears.

It is the unknown.

It is within death, loss, and many other things like this.

Humans have a great need, for some reason, to know things.

And what we do not know, we have no experience going into.

After death, we do not know what comes; thus we fear it.

When we lose something, we do not know where it is; thus we are afraid to lose.

A fear of spiders seems more irregular/irrational, but if you think about the fact that you don't know a good many things about the spider (for one, what it is thinking), the fear of the unknown strikes again.

And the worst part-we have no word for a fear of the unknown...

Xenophobia is the closest thing I can find, and it applies to a fear of foreigners more than a fear of the unknown...

We must learn to overcome a fear of the unknown.

Daily Wondering #17-Philosophy's Importance

People often disregard philosophy as a useless branch of thinking that involves circular reasoning with no correct answers.
But I like to think differently.
Philosophy was the basis for science.
And philosophy defines how we should live everyday life.
Everyone has decisions to make, and therefore everyone has philosophies to guide them through this.
Philosophy is therefore just as important as other studies.

Daily Wondering #16-Perspective

Perspective is an important thing, as it affects almost all of our views on this world. For example, the world appears the way it does because of our perspective, but from the perspective of an ant, the world appears very differently!
So the wondering of the day: what would be the perspective you would want to live life from?

Daily Wondering #15-Centering

What are all things really centered around? The world is not centered around any particular country, and even the world is part of the solar system, which in. Turn is part of bigger and bigger things. What is the ultimate center?
What do you think is the ultimate center?
I say that all things are centered around something that humans have no knowledge of, and might never find... There is so much we do not know....

Daily Wondering #14-Beliefs of All Kinds

In the world of philosophy, there are beliefs and ideas of all kinds.
Are there any really correct ones?
Or are all the beliefs wrong?
What do you believe is correct? (pun not intended)

Daily Wondering #13-What Is Luck?

If luck is exactly what we humans define it as, than it is the one thing that has the most adverse effects.
Think about it.
Good luck can lead to winning the lottery.
Bad luck? Getting hit by lightning? Or maybe having lots of trouble come your way?
But is luck really what causes these?
Science seems to think not.
I don't have an opinion on this really.
I feel more is needed to be known before we can actually reach a conclusion with this kind of topic.
What do you think?

Daily Wondering #12-Paradoxes

Paradoxes are statements that are self-contradicting.
They are all impossibilities.
How can they all be impossible?
Paradoxes aren't questions, first of all.
They are statements that contradict themselves.
They are impossible statements.
So, do they really need to be solved?
I feel like pondering them is useful, but if they are impossible there is no point in solving them.
What do you think about them?
And, should I do more of these in the future?

Daily Wondering #11-A Branching Tree

Science and philosophy both came from the same roots.
Many ancient scientists were also philosophers.
So what separates them?

To me, science is using what humans have established (only somewhat) to prove more things.
Philosophy is using what can be more established, but is also more abstract. Philosophy proves what science cannot.

What are these two things to you?

Daily Wondering #10-Numerical Sense?

Numbers seem to just be constants that we make up.
And we seems to be able to apply them to anything.
We can count anything, right?

But how do we know these constants always work?
We invented them.
And we don't know how far they go.
We use them for almost all kinds of inventions form now on.
NUMBERS ARE ALMOST, IF NOT, THE BASIS OF ALL OUR TECHNOLOGY!

Personally, nothing can be proved entirely.
So numbers, I'm going to assume, are fake.

Daily Wondering #9-Purpose, or Not

As human beings, after we are gone, has it really left a mark on the world?

And does anyone really care about all the things we do?
And besides, after one dies, how people remember them doesn't really matter anymore, does it?
All things are meaningless, aren't they?

Paradoxes and Dilemmas #3-Unheard Sounds

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Just because something has happened one way every single time doesn't mean it couldn't go differently the next time.

Based on what we have seen so far, the tree would make a sound, but the case of an exception is possible as well.

Therefore,
Conclusion: It is most probable that the tree makes a sound. However, there is always the chance of an exception. We can, to some degree, assume the tree makes sound.

Daily Wondering #8-Fate and Free Will

A very old philosophical question indeed. Are all things predetermined, or do we have free will?

I feel as if we do have free will, but fate might still exist.

Neither can be proved unless time travel (that is instantaneous) is invented.

Daily Wondering #7-What is Truth?

Immediately, many things might be false because we do not have an exact proof for these things.
For example, the rules of math only exist because we state them to exist.
I suppose there is a certain amount of truth in existence, but again, we have no evidence we exist.
And if existence isn't real, than is truth still real?
Or does truth transcend existence?

I personally think that entire truth is yet to be found.
And that it might never exist.

Daily Wondering #6-An Existent Past?

Did the past really exist?
The moment something is in the past, there is no proof it ever existed.
We perceive all occurrences as to have happened...
But where's the proof our perception is true?
For all we know, nothing exists.

The past and the future are never actually lived in. We live in the present.
So the answer may never be found.

Random Stories #2-Ultimum Potentiae

In a fantasy world, there once was a very ambitious young man. He wished for one thing, and one thing only. This one thing was power. He was always looking for opportunities to gain, and soon became the chief adviser of the emperor of a very large and powerful empire. He was satisfied with his position, but he thought, and realized there was no clean way to ascend further. So he persuaded the emperor in making himself as the heir to the kingdom. (as the emperor had no direct descendants or children) Following this, he hired an assassin. After successfully assassinating the emperor, he then had the assassin killed such that no one would know of his doings, and declared himself emperor.

Time passed, and the young man reigned for a year. But he was not happy, and wanted to gain more power. He declared wars and conquered land, until he became the supreme, autocratic ruler of the entire world. He had all the power any mortal could desire, but he still wanted more. So he began searching for ways he could acquire more. He thought, and realized he did not have control over a great many things, one being physics. 

So the young man summoned all of the engineers, scientists, magicians, wizards, priests, and anyone else who could help him accomplish this amazing goal. After a year of hard work, this assembled team gave him the power to control all things physical, and he used this power to mold the world his way. But he was still not happy. He wanted invincibility and immortality. 

His combined team harnessed the powers he already had and used another year. They gave him invincibility and immortality. He now felt like a god, and enjoyed his exceptional existence. But of course, he was continuously ambitious. And so, he demanded control over time.
His team, now very fearful of him, reluctantly gave him the power to control time. With a single thought, this young man could now freeze time, or return to the past, or advance to the future.  

This process continued over twenty years, and the young man soon became the ultimate being. He had all powers imaginable, and was essentially all-powerful. But then, he was still ambitious. Knowing he could o longer continue to ascend, he became very furious with himself. He fell into a rage, and the rage just so happened to cause a drastic change to him. He fainted from the transformation.

When he finally woke up, infinite years had passed. All things, including time and space, including existence, had disappeared. He was now hovering in a void, a pure manifestation of power. 

FINIS OMNIUM

Daily Wondering #5-The Boundaries of Ignorance

Knowledge is something no sentient being lacks.
But all sentient beings have limited knowledge.
All things that we do not know, or that we ignore, would they really exist?
Just because we ignore something, does it mean that that "thing" does not exist?
What are the boundaries of such existence?
Or, in other words, how far does this go? ("this" being ignorance)
Does this mean all objects exist, even if they only do so within imagination and fantasy?
Or does this mean that existence is purely knowledge and perception?

Daily Wondering #4-Success V. Happiness

Typically people are only able to achieve one of these things. The question is, which is more important?
In the event that one is successful, but unhappy, I doubt that is preferable because life is short and it is meant to be enjoyed.
But can happiness be achieved by everyone without success?
The trick is probably in learning to become happy.

Daily Wondering #3-Three in the Rain

Imagine yourself in the following circumstance:

You are driving a two-seated car and are obviously occupying one of the seats. It is raining heavily outside. You pass by a street, and noticed your crush, your best friend, and your boss/favorite teacher standing there. Who do you take with you?

Taking your crush doesn't seem like a good plan, as both your boss and your best friend will get mad at you. And besides, your crush might not necessarily like you.

Taking your boss keeps you in a job, but is it worth it to lose your best friend in the process? I'd say it's not.

Taking your best friend is worth it, because you and whoever they are have spent time together.

But wait... there is an actual way to bypass this and solve the whole thing.

Get out of the car, give your keys to your best friend, and tell him to drive your boss home, then come back for you.

You are now alone with your crush.

What this doesn't solve is how the remaining three of you can all get back home... but it's a start.

Random Stories #1-The Ultimate Tragedy

This will be a series where I post random short stories I feel like stimulate wonderings.

Yes, these will pretty much all be from me.

Let's start with the first one!

Once, in some time and age, were five brothers who had traveled the world. They came upon a magical stone, which would grant any one wish these five brothers could want. These five brothers were ecstatic! They all fought over the stone, but eventually an agreement was reached and an order was decided.

The first brother had some financial issues. Thus, he chose to have infinite money. His wish was granted with a magical, invisible entity always refilling his bank account whenever it depleted. Soon, he became a very greedy, hermit miser and wasted away in a grand castle. He was never happy again.

The second brother was exceptionally ambitious and power-hungry. He chose to have unlimited powers and infinite abilities. His wish was granted. Upon seeing himself in a godlike form, his mortal brain could not cope with the power, and he fell into a coma. He did not die, but was trapped within the coma, and was little better than dead.

The third brother was intelligent and thought this through a bit more than the others. He wished to be entirely happy. He became very complacent, however, and soon he forgot what life was all about. Even though he was happy, he became very confused and very self-contained. He soon was trapped within his own little world, where nothing could annoy him. He, although he was happy, forgot what happiness is all about, and was happy, although he didn't enjoy it that much anymore.

The fourth brother was very athletic and had contracted several medical problems in recent years. He wished to have an entirely healthy body, such that no medical  harm could occur to his body. After this wish was granted to him, he realized he could do many very amazing things. He could survive any virus, and helped mankind discover cures for many diseases. But he became reckless and took life for granted, and was killed when he attempted to take the full force of a nuclear warhead. The radiation did not give him a cancer, but the explosion and force incinerated his body. 

The fifth brother, having thought about all of these mistakes his brothers had made, chose to become immortal. He was now to live to the end of time and infinite number of infinite infinities away. After the first forty years, he began to notice that while he was immortal, everyone around him was still mortal. And while all of his friends, families, and other relatives died, he remained. He was tortured by this, and many times tried to end his own existence. But he could not, and he, at last, realized he had set himself up for the ultimate tragedy. 

Daily Wondering #2-Everything is Meaningless

Ecclesiastes 1 from the Bible states that everything is meaningless.
For a copy of this, you can go to https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1.
So, is everything really meaningless?
"meaningless" means "having no meaning or significance"
"meaning" means "what is meant by a word, text, concept, or action"
"mean" (as a verb) means "intend to convey, indicate, or refer to (a particular thing or notion), signify"

/\
 |
I hope that isn't confusing.
Anyways, by this logic, something that is meaningless doesn't have that "what" that is meant by a word, text, concept, or action.

But the Bible goes as far as saying that EVERYTHING is meaningless.
Let's assume the Bible is true here.
If everything was meaningless, that would mean that nothing has any meaning.

So far, everything I've proved seems to be obvious.
But is it as obvious as it seems?
Think about it.
If nothing is signified, intended to convey, indicated, etc., than therefore references, indications, significations, these could not exist!
So some things must still have a meaning.

Thinking about what the actual passage means is different.
The passage states that everything is meaningless because in the very end, all things we believe to have meaning are destroyed by time. They are gone. They no longer have a meaning.

This, I do agree with.
Once people die, once buildings fall, once objects break, what is their meaning? They might have been significant in the past, but the moment it is gone, it is gone!
It no longer is significant.
So, perhaps everything IS meaningless.

Paradoxes and Dilemmas #2-The Sound of Silence, etc.

Yes, this post is based on Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence". It's a good song!

What is the sound of silence?

This same question has many variations, typically involving the senses.

For example:

-What is the color of something without color?

-What is the taste of a tasteless thing?

-What does nothing feel like?

So, what is the sound of silence?

Using the Google dictionary's definition:

"complete absence of sound"

So, if silence is where there is a "complete absence of sound", or there is no sound at all, then it should, theoretically, have no sound. It is the very absence of sound, therefore there is no sound. So it would seem that this dilemma is actually exceptionally easy to solve.

Unless it isn't?

I believe that no human being with the ability to hear has ever experienced complete and absolute silence, such that there is absolutely no sound in an atmosphere a human being lives in. So actual silence might be impossible to achieve. In that case, the actual silence is non-existent. Does something that is non-existent have sound?

Humans that are entirely deaf can experience silence... or can they?

According to many sources online, there is a sound that is not caused by any external sound. This sound is called "tinnitus", and is entirely within the mind.

Quoting a paragraph from The Atlantic's website,

Tinnitus is often described as ringing in the ears, but that’s not the only sound that qualifies. It can also present as buzzing, roaring, clicking, hissing, or a noise like crickets, among other things. A type known as pulsatile tinnitus is rhythmic, often keeping time with the person’s heartbeat.

Conclusion: If silence really did exist it would theoretically have no sound. But complete silence seems to be unattainable, so we may never know if would have a unique sound.

Paradoxes and Dilemmas #1-The Chicken and the Egg

Paradoxes, dilemmas, and other seemingly impossible things will be pondered in this series!
A conclusion will be made at the end of each of these.

Anyways, let's get into it.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

From a semi-scientific standpoint, these has to have been the egg first, laid by some other animal very similar to a chicken. When the egg hatched, it mutated into a chicken, or this process slowly happened. But the question remains, did that egg come first, or did the animal that make it come first?

There has to have been an origin to this, and while there are many myths and legends that stand the egg came first, then the organism, this question is very probably imponderable.

Conclusion: The paradox itself is resolved somewhat with the answer that the "egg" came first. But the second part of the paradox, which came into play in the middle of resolving the paradox, is imponderable as it goes back before humans existed. So, until time travel (backwards/into the past) is invented, we may never know.

Daily Wondering #1-What is Philosophy?

Daily Wondering #1-What is Philosophy?

Now, I know there is a literal answer to this, but the question is meant to have a non-literal answer.
To me, philosophy is the collection of these thoughts, wonderings, ponderings, and everything else.

What is it to you?

Welcome!

Starting today, I'll be posting philosophical-related ponderings, thoughts, and wonderings on this blog! Anyone is free to post their thoughts on the whatever I discuss for that day!