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| Author |
Message |
nephi
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A Square Circle
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Feb 1 07:57 UTC 1995 |
Can an infinitely powerful being create a square circle?
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| 81 responses total. |
cyberpnk
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response 1 of 81:
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Feb 1 19:13 UTC 1995 |
it's been done. There's a mathematical formula that lets you deform a circle
top, bottom, left and right. Eventually you get to where the figure will fit
all the tolerances for a square, but it is still a circle.
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md
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response 2 of 81:
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Feb 1 19:23 UTC 1995 |
But the corners are never completely pointy. If you look
closely, they're always slightly rounded.
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cyberpnk
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response 3 of 81:
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Feb 2 18:30 UTC 1995 |
true.
,
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nephi
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response 4 of 81:
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Feb 4 11:40 UTC 1995 |
What's your definition of the terms "square" and "circle"? They seem to
be mutually exclusive.
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md
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response 5 of 81:
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Feb 8 14:42 UTC 1995 |
Good point. No wonder it can't be done.
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nephi
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response 6 of 81:
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Feb 10 09:14 UTC 1995 |
So what does this say about the Christian Deity?
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groove
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response 7 of 81:
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Feb 20 23:30 UTC 1995 |
How can God create something that goes against man's definition? If he
can change the definition, he can create the square circle.
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buzzard
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response 8 of 81:
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Feb 23 04:33 UTC 1995 |
I believe that God can make any thing that he wants to. If God wants
to make a square circle (which would look kind of funny) he can, because
he is creater of all things.
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suzi
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response 9 of 81:
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Feb 23 15:21 UTC 1995 |
Or would He just work with our minds so that we would visualize a
circle as being square?
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buzzard
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response 10 of 81:
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Mar 3 22:07 UTC 1995 |
suzi, sorry for being late on a responce back. I think that you might be right
when you said or would he just work on our minds. I say that thats right
because I can rember when I becam a christain. and all the things that were
going through my mind when the speaker was speaking. So yes I think you are
right when yousay Gos would be just working on our minds to think that a
cricle would be a square.
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orinoco
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response 11 of 81:
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Apr 9 20:51 UTC 1995 |
THink of it this way....
Mathematical laws were created by God along with everything else....
If all of those other laws that He created have been broken in the form of
miracles, then Mathematical ones can break too....
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selena
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response 12 of 81:
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Apr 10 05:33 UTC 1995 |
Orin, God has nothing to do with mathematics. Math was made bty MAN to explain
certain things about the universe's orginization and workings. If something
falls outside of mathematical possibility, it's only 'cause Math is as falable
as the Humans who dreampt it up.
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orinoco
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response 13 of 81:
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Apr 13 18:50 UTC 1995 |
how can math be a *human*( invention.....take art, a human invention....if a
human thinks that something is beautiful, it is..... in the case of math
though, you can *think* that 2+2=5, but it won't be true
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eldrich
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response 14 of 81:
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Aug 24 20:46 UTC 1995 |
Circle and square, two and five. These are just explainations of things that we
see and don't understand. It would change nothing if two plus two equaled five
.
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hoagy
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response 15 of 81:
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Sep 7 06:28 UTC 1995 |
What all powerful deity would even bother doing such a silly thing?
It'd be pretty pointless, even if just to say "There, see, I can do it!"
I doubt any lesser being would be impressed, and it wouldn't have
profound implications anyways, except to maybe redefine geometry and
physics. Once you can change the laws of nature, you can
do anything. So, this infinitely powerful being would prove just
that - he/she/it is an infinitely powerful being. Hoorah.
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orinoco
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response 16 of 81:
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Sep 8 01:54 UTC 1995 |
but hoagy, the point is NOT whether He would WANT to, the point is whether
he COULD
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scott
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response 17 of 81:
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Sep 8 16:17 UTC 1995 |
But wouldn't it be a factor of our own mental structure to have a paradox?
I think that all this anthropomorphism (whew!) about a being that is, by
defenition, way beyond anyone's comprehension, is a bit foolish.
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eldrich
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response 18 of 81:
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Sep 12 20:15 UTC 1995 |
This has nothing to do with the power of an infinitely powerful being, it's a
question of our perseption. If circles were squares then that would be that and
we'd have one less
shape to deal with.
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orinoco
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response 19 of 81:
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Sep 13 19:49 UTC 1995 |
the definitions of square and sircle are mutually contradictory--there *cant*
be a square circle--it would be impossible. It's not a matter of perception
at all, it's a matter of the rules of mathematics.
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y
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response 20 of 81:
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Sep 14 18:20 UTC 1995 |
what about a boxing ring? that is a square circle (or ring) :)
The solution is already here, and perspective is the answer.
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randall
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response 21 of 81:
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Sep 14 18:28 UTC 1995 |
It would actually be very easy to have a square circle. Since these items
exist without definition, and we attach our definitions. Now, "circle" is a
concept, not a physical thing, so all you have to do is change your
definition of what a circle is (or what a square is, it doesn't matter), then
make something that looks just a little different from a circle and define
that as a square circle. Voila! I love us humans, we think our ideas
define the universe, its so ironic.
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orinoco
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response 22 of 81:
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Sep 14 19:16 UTC 1995 |
oh, if you make it a semantic issue and just change what the words mean, it's
easy. If you take the puzzle to mean, "can an infinitely powerful being
make an object that fufills the human definition for a square and the human
definition for a circle", then it becomes a paradox
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eldrich
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response 23 of 81:
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Sep 14 20:13 UTC 1995 |
Once again human perception that makes the paradox.
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snafu
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response 24 of 81:
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Sep 14 22:59 UTC 1995 |
The big question is "Does anyone care?" But I do. I am Christian therefore
I believe that God can do anything he wants. But I think that if we saw a
square circle we wouldn't be able to tell. It'd probably look like a square
with the corners filed down or something.
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