Thought Experiments 6/6

Six weeks on and I bring you the final episode of this mini series of the Open University‘s fine work on Thought Experiments.

Concluding the series with week 6: Schrödinger’s Cat

Quantum mechanics challenges our whole perception of reality, and along with it this short video presents some real food for thought.

Dead?  Undead?  Decayed?  Not decayed?  Superposition?  Quite the conundrum for you to consider this weekend – happy thinking!

If you want to read this whole series back to back then you’ll find them all neatly ordered via this link.  Hope you enjoyed them, and to give you a little heads up I’ll be looking to run another weekly mini series of related posts early in the new year!

Thought Experiments 5/6

And so another week has come to an end, and with it the penultimate installment of the Open University’s Thought Experiments.

Week 5: The Twin Paradox

According to Albert Einstein the faster you travel through space, the slower you travel through time, thus providing the basis for this paradox.  However using Einstein’s further defined theory on Gravitational Time Dilation it all becomes, ahem, clear.

Nothing like a bit of Einstein and his theories of Special Relativity to get you thinking over the weekend!

Thought Experiments 4/6

And so to another installment of the Thought Experiment mini series.

This week the rather baffling concept of an infinite hotel from David Hilbert.

Week 4: Hilbert’s Infinite Hotel.

By it’s own definition infinity (∞) is a rather perplexing idea, since it has no upper (or lower) bound or end it stands to reason that ∞+1 = ∞.

Stranger still it remains true that ∞+∞ = ∞.

That should keep your mind suitably occupied this weekend!

Thought Experiments 3/6

Apologies for the slightly late posting in this Thought Experiment series, a busy working week caught me off guard and hence Friday’s post is, well, today!

So, to Week 3: The Chinese Room, and the challenging thought of whether a machine can ever truly be called intelligent?

The crucial difference seems to be whether you can understand the intelligence, or merely simulate it.  My belief is that with the development of future technology the line between the two will become evermore blurred.

Next week will feature the baffling concept of an infinite hotel!

Thought Experiments 2/6

As duly promised here is the second installment of your Friday treat, the Open University‘s work on thought experiments.

Week 2: The Grandfather Paradox

Will time travel ever be possible?

Happy Friday!

Thought Experiments 1/6

Recently I came across some rather good work from the Open University‘s Philosophy department.  It focusses on taking a series of six famous thought experiments and animating the concepts to something appealing and understandable in a mere 60 seconds.

Now, instead of cramming them all into one post here I’ve decided to feature one a week (in amongst my other usual posts) for the next six weeks as a little Friday treat for all you readers.

So here we go, week 1: Achilles and the Tortoise

The Ancient Greek paradox seemingly demonstrates how all movement is actually impossible.

Fortunately movement is possible, and this has led to the understanding that something finite can actually be divided an infinite number of times.  Very useful indeed.

Enjoy!