The Paradox Thread

[jibber]

Originally Posted by Tuna

^ yeah those two are both mind****s.

Another good one is the Coastline Paradox: it basically shows that a coastline of a landmass is infinite in length, as the lower the measurements you take to measure the coastline, the closer it gets to infinity.

Coastline paradox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the coastline itself isn't infinite, but the length is undefinable. Although maybe that's what you meant by infinite.

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by jibber

the coastline itself isn't infinite, but the length is undefinable. Although maybe that's what you meant by infinite.

I think I see what you're saying, right? Zoom in to a yard of a particular portion of coastline... then down to an inch... now further to a centimeter... go further down to an atom of one particular grain of sand comprising the coast line. Keep going past the Neutron. Quarks. Further in, theoretical probabilities. Space between space between space. Theoretically, you could go forever into the space between space. It could never be accurately measured.

[jibber]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

I think I see what you're saying, right? Zoom in to a yard of a particular portion of coastline... then down to an inch... now further to a centimeter... go further down to an atom of one particular grain of sand comprising the coast line. Keep going past the Neutron. Quarks. Further in, theoretical probabilities. Space between space between space. Theoretically, you could go forever into the space between space. It could never be accurately measured.

Yeah that's what I'm saying. I agree that it could never be measured but I disagree with the term infinite because the coastline does end, but the EXACT measurement just isn't discernible by any means we have. But, if you use that logic for a coastline then really isn't the measurement of everything on the planet "infinite?" Replace 'every strand of hair and skin cell' with 'grain of sand' in that paragraph and you have an argument for why a person's height is "infinite".

[midnight rain]

Originally Posted by jibber

the coastline itself isn't infinite, but the length is undefinable. Although maybe that's what you meant by infinite.

In a way, though, it is infinite in length. I mean you can just keep getting more accurate and accurate with more precise measurements and that just expands the length of the coastline. This makes me question any distance ever measured and the concept of 'distance' as a whole.

[jibber]

Originally Posted by Tuna

In a way, though, it is infinite in length. I mean you can just keep getting more accurate and accurate with more precise measurements and that just expands the length of the coastline. This makes me question any distance ever measured and the concept of 'distance' as a whole.

Yeah well that's kind of what I said in my post above. The coastline is just an arbitrary example of an argument that says nothing can really be accurately measured. I just take issue with the word "infinite" to define it rather than unmeasurable. The actual measure of an object/thing/whatever may be infinite, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the thing itself is. It just means that we don't have the means to define that end.

[midnight rain]

Originally Posted by jibber

Yeah well that's kind of what I said in my post above. The coastline is just an arbitrary example of an argument that says nothing can really be accurately measured. I just take issue with the word "infinite" to define it rather than unmeasurable. The actual measure of an object/thing/whatever may be infinite, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the thing itself is. It just means that we don't have the means to define that end.

I guess saying it "approaches infinity" may be a more appropriate term for it.

It's not even the defining the length of it matter. It's getting the precise measurements of it.

For example, a straight line's length CAN be defined.

A real jagged coastline, as is used in the coastline paradox, can't be because it's impossible to take in every little degree (and 1/8 of a degree, 1/16, etc.).

See where I'm going? Or do I just sound like an idiot?

[jibber]

Originally Posted by Tuna

I guess saying it "approaches infinity" may be a more appropriate term for it.

It's not even the defining the length of it matter. It's getting the precise measurements of it.

For example, a straight line's length CAN be defined.

A real jagged coastline, as is used in the coastline paradox, can't be because it's impossible to take in every little degree (and 1/8 of a degree, 1/16, etc.).

See where I'm going? Or do I just sound like an idiot?

No I think we're actually saying the same thing. I was saying that by that argument nothing with mass can actually be defined by size. I used the term length because we were still talking about a coastline.