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What's the point of thinking about frustrating paradoxes?

Hello! I'm Intensive ReadingPrivacy cryptocurrency, and today we're going to explore the concept of "paradox."

A paradox is when two opposing conclusions are implied in the same proposition or reasoning, and both conclusions are self-consistent.

In abstract terms, the paradox formula is: if event A occursPrivacy cryptocurrency, then non-A is deduced; if non-A occurs, then A is deduced.

The "liar paradox" is considered the world's earliest paradox, and its simplest expression is: I'm lying.

If I'm lyingPrivacy cryptocurrency, then "I'm lying" is a lie, so I'm telling the truth; but if this is the truth, I'm lying. So, a contradiction arises.

Paradoxes are frustrating and fascinating. Have you ever wondered why the night is so dark? Why are there only a few stars dotting the sky, rather than a sea of ​​stars?

In 1826Privacy cryptocurrency, German astronomer Olbers pointed out that based on the static, uniform, infinite universe model, it would be concluded that the night is as bright as the day.

In this reasoning process, Olbers made four assumptions:

① Space is infinitePrivacy cryptocurrency, and stars are evenly distributed in it to varying degrees.

② Time is endlessly passing, and no matter how far in the past, the universe is full of stars, and on average, their luminosity does not change much.

③The law of light propagation is the same throughout the universe, just like the propagation of light in our room.

④The universe as a whole has no large-scale, systematic motion, that is, the universe is static from a large scale.

According to these four assumptions, no matter where you look in the sky, you should see the surface of a star. There should be no dark areas between stars, and the entire sky should be bright at night.

But in fact, the night sky is dark. This contradiction between theory and observation is called Olbers' paradox.

To deal with Olbers' paradox, Einstein introduced anti-gravity to balance gravity, thus forming a static universe. Later, he believed that this was his "most unforgivable mistake in his life."

In the end, scientists discovered that Olbers's static universe hypothesis was wrong. The universe had a starting point and is now expanding. Starlight does not propagate forever.

Although the paradox is not easy to solve, once it is solvedPrivacy cryptocurrency, it will bring significant cognitive upgrades and knowledge growth.

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