Why?????????????

[streaky]

S Works said:

Right time to end this once and for all. I think the question we're all secretly wanting to know the answer to is... ...Will there ever be a boy born, who can swim faster than a shark?

Is either or both or neither of the boy and the shark alive or dead. Or both alive and dead? Or neither alive nor dead? It makes a difference - Streaky

Edited 'cos a 'dead' died on my keyboard.

>> Edited by streaky on Friday 29th April 15:03

[Raify]

If the boy did swim faster than a shark, he would be acting in a completely irresponsible manner, and would deserve everything he gets.

I mean, come on! He knows the maritime speed limit, why does he break it?

When I siwm, I NEVER break the speed limit, even on a long boring commute along the Gulf Stream. I am an excellent swimmer, even at low speeds and NEVER lose my concentration.

[Ecks Ridgehead]

streaky said:

Is either or both or neither of the boy and the shark alive or dead. Or both alive and ? Or neither alive nor dead? It makes a difference - Streaky

We'll never know that unless we place them both in a box!

My guess is that they will flux between boy and shark constantly and at infinite speed, giving rise to boy-shark duality.

I propose that we call this the Jaws Paradox.

[S Works]

Surely the shark will just swim faster than the boy, catch & eat him and then the shark will swim slower ('cos it's full of boy).

Er, right, that's enough.

[blueyes]

Shark, dog, cat, boy, alive, dead, both, either, neither.

The thing is... does the box really exist?

[S Works]

...and that's what I want

[Jewhoo]

Ecks Ridgehead said:

Jewhoo saidk, first Ecks, I can say that it can't be dead and alive yet not be either dead or alive as life and death are not necessarily mutually exclusive (hence teh state of flux). Read this back to yourself. See whether it makes sense.

I did, it does to me.

Ecks Ridgehead said:

The point of the paradox was exactly that the two states are mutually exclusive - read about the Double Slit Experiment to find out why. The slits are binary - there is no gradation between them. Hence an example that relied on two discrete, mutually exclusive states.

Then you will doubtless be aware of a very similar experiment (firing protons through slits) that showed firing a definite number of protons through some slits resulted in more "hits" than there were protons fired. Eg proton fired through slit 1 gives result on target 2, though not under direct observation - this only shows up after the completion of the experiment and not on a proton by proton basis (IIRC).

Thus giving rise to an explanation for parallel universes(ii??). With the existence of more than one universe, the cat can be in an indefinite number of states at the same time, each state being in a different universe.

Double Slit Experiment said:

According to quantum mechanics, the electron is a point, but simultaneously everywhere at once, and it goes through both slits simultaneously, "guided" by a probability wave with a phase that depends on the position-momentum Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: ....

If the cat is the electron then the parallel lines analogy is true as the cat is everywhere between yet one of the two.

Ecks Ridgehead said:

You're missing the whole point that Schrödinger was trying to make

Would you mind ever so much enlightening me as to why rather than just stating that I am?

Ecks Ridgehead said:

You seem to be getting confused (especially with the "infinite lines" between dead and alive forks comments) - I suggest you read through some of the links I've posted here, and take on board what Streaky has written, and you'll see what old Schrödinger was saying.

I understand very well what Schrodinger was saying, that doesn't mean I can't add my own conjecture just because it has confused you. Feel free to point out holes in the musings, but how about filling them in rather than just

I suggest you accept my conjecture and attempt to disprove it. Also, please ignore the grammatical errors that inflated the neither/either/or/nor problem, it's not my fault I'm an uneducated, unemployed bum! It also may have been helped (or hindered, depending on your viewpoint) by Dr Double and Mr Maxim although I stand by the rest of what I've said

[MR2Mike]

Ok, who let the armchair quantum physicists loose again?

If life and death aren't mutualy exclusive? So I could be a "little bit dead" then?

[Jewhoo]

only if you're in the box....

>> Edited by Jewhoo on Friday 29th April 17:41

[JoolzB]

Could you put a web cam in the box or a remote heart monitor to solve the problem? Just trying to help you chaps out.

[blueyes]

A spokesperson from the scamera partnership said,

"Put the box in a car and drive over the speed limit and the cat will die instantly."

[Jewhoo]

That's so close to how they seem to think it's scary

[MilnerR]

C'mon guys you've had 3 pages to figure out the ins and outs of metaphysical existance. If it takes you that long to come to terms with such a straight forward topic what chance have you got of defeating funkyrobot's incisive arguments?!

[BliarOut]

I suspect Funky's frantically searching the internet for clues as to this proposed anti-cycling legislation

Now where did I read about it first......

[streaky]

MR2Mike said:

Ok, who let the armchair quantum physicists loose again? If life and death aren't mutualy exclusive? So I could be a "little bit dead" then?

About as much as you can be 'almost a virgin' - Streaky

PS - jokes about 'boxes' in the context of this post will be brought to the attention of the moderators - S

[S Works]

Ahem... can we please get back to the serious question about the boy swimming faster than the shark?

[JoolzB]

S Works said:

Ahem... can we please get back to the serious question about the boy swimming faster than the shark?

Yep sure thing. To answer your question...

IMO yes it could and might happen in our lifetime. The reasons for this are simple - evolution and probability. Already in the last 20 years we have seen small changes in the human body, ther are more people who grow > 6ft, people grow fatter and the case of the Man from Atlantis some superhuman swimming techniques would match any shark. Now to swim faster you just have to factor in the probability of him on vacation meeting up with superwoman and the probability forks as mentioned earlier. Now if their infinitely long forks collide with one and other they end up forking each other thus resulting in a boy who can swim faster than a shark.

Work it out for yerself.

Sorry, I'll get me cloak.

[streaky]

JoolzB said:

S Works said: Ahem... can we please get back to the serious question about the boy swimming faster than the shark? Yep sure thing. To answer your question... IMO yes it could and might happen in our lifetime. The reasons for this are simple - evolution and probability. Already in the last 20 years we have seen small changes in the human body, ther are more people who grow > 6ft, people grow fatter and the case of the Man from Atlantis some superhuman swimming techniques would match any shark. Now to swim faster you just have to factor in the probability of him on vacation meeting up with superwoman and the probability forks as mentioned earlier. Now if their infinitely long forks collide with one and other they end up forking each other thus resulting in a boy who can swim faster than a shark. Work it out for yerself. Sorry, I'll get me cloak.

The idea of an "infinitely long fork" is appealing. I would prefer it to be with "Wonder Woman", or Lois Lane than "superwoman". I would be devasted though to hear either one of those ladies answer the question: "Did the earth move for you?" with: "No, it was just two infinitely long forks colliding!"



Streaky