hmmm...
Suppose Homer wants to catch a stationary bus. Before he can get there, he must get halfway there. Before he can get halfway there, he must get a quarter of the way there. Before traveling a fourth, he must travel one-eighth; before an eighth, one-sixteenth; and so on.
This description requires one to travel an infinite number of finite distances, which is argued-- would take an infinite time -- which is to say, it can never be completed. This sequence also presents a second problem in that it contains no first distance to run, for any possible first distance could be divided in half, and hence would not be first after all. Hence, the trip cannot even be begun. The paradoxical conclusion then would be that travel over any finite distance can neither be completed nor begun, and so all motion must be an Illusion.
posted by ingenium at 1:31 AM
4 Comments:
yup so said dr hewitt day 1 of university physics 1. apperantly since there is an infinite # of point between any two points it should theoretically be impossible to get from any point #1 to another point #2 especially because there is another set of inifinite points between your starting point and the first point of your journey to point #2.
But we know very well that Homer would have no difficulty reaching his bus stop no? So by simply standing and walking, couldn't we just point out that things in fact do move?
all motion IS an illusion. from one point of view we see homer travelling towards the bus stop in pursuit of his goal. in another, homer merely imagines he is at the bus stop, and the stop comes to him, while his feet move back and forth in space. in a third point of view, an onlooker sees a "homer" and a "bus stop" meeting each other half way, both pursuing and reaching their goals.
True but, how would that proove that motion is an illusion? And further that motion isn't real? If anything, the first point of view would proove more that motion is real, as would the second. Don't you think? I'm just playing devil's advocate here, I want to solve this paradox.
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