RandomVariable
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- Jan 7, 2014
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It is a false question.
I see you motto is I never finish anythi
What is 'a false question'?
I'm beginning to see the problem: work on being articulate.
I tried to find a passage which best served my purpose. From http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/1333/1/ZENO.html:
Lynds notes that we can almost solve Zeno's paradox using calculus. That however raises the problem that calculus, like Catholicism, assumes the impossible, namely that we can actually complete an infinite series of additions thus reaching (instead of merely approaching) a limit. It's not really a satisfying answer philosophically. More importantly, Lynds seems to miss the point: paradoxed exist not to be solved but rather to teach problem solving! It is axiomatic that a paradox presents a "red herring" - that it present a problem other than the real problem that it presents - in order to force the student to discover a solution by questioning their ordinarily unquestioned assumptions. Lynds definitely succeeds in doing what the paradox is intended to compel, "thinking outside of the box". But Lynds does not compel a solution to the paradox first due to flawed method, and second because the paradox is unsolvable as it is comparing incommensurates, namely distance/time with distance/distance. The paradox however is not incommensurate in the sense of the trisection of an angle. Rather it is incommensurate because it is comparing two different entities (at least for classical physics...). Thus Zeno posed what, in his time, was a false question. In our time however since we see that space/time are one convertible thing the question may not in fact be paradoxical and may be able to be solved: though Lynds has not compelled the solution he proposes.