The Town of Odyssey

I would like to try out a new installment in my series of ‘Bookworm does stuff’ threads. I’ve been mulling over various paradoxes recently, and have been somewhat surprised to find myself solving them instead of contemplating them. I don’t know if I’m over thinking them (or perhaps actually under thinking, in this case) or what, but instead of an enlightening thought experience all I get is a brief mental exercise and then I arrive at the solution.

So, if you’ve found yourself reflecting on some cryptic question that is allegedly without an answer and merely intended for meditation, feel free to send it my way and see what I make of it.

(This is different from this thread because there you may pose any situation or statement that is inherently complex and begs a more philosophical pondering for thoughtful two-way discussion in addition to my musing, if desired, whereas here submissions should be confined to concise paradoxical statements or questions which are specifically designed for contemplation and is less of a dialogue and more of just my analysis. In other words, that thread is for conundrums you want me to give serious thought, this one is for paradoxes you want me to simply dissect.)



The series:
Bookworm proves you're wrong!
Bookworm thoughtfully ponders conundrums

If I were to time travel fifty years into the past, find my grandparents and lock them up in separate prison cells, then travel one hundred years into the future and attain omnipotence, allowing me to run in more than one direction at once at unstoppable speeds, and after surpassing the speed of light I catch a glimpse of an infinite number of penrose staircases, each with an infinite amount of steps, and my omnipotence gave me the ability to count them, would my grandparents be dead?

That one's always bugged me.

Is something a paradox if it can be solved?

Jelly, your question actually belongs in this thread and I will address it there. Let me give an example of what I mean by paradox in this situation. I don’t mean any complex question, as I said that’s what the other thread is for. In this thread I’m looking at established statements or questions specifically formed and used for contemplation.

For example, this is a Buddhist meditation:
What is it that moves, the flag or the wind?

Questions like these are not intended to have a ready answer (or possibly any answer) they are simply for reflection and contemplation. However, I believe I can likely find an answer for most of them.

Take an infinitely large plane (2-dimensional frame of reference, not an aircraft) and divide it into infinitesimal rectangles. Would there be a mathematical value for the area of the plane?

Again, wrong thread. That is the perfect kind of question to pose here. This thread is for meditation sayings/questions that you’re supposed to simply contemplate on without actually finding an answer.