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        riddles >> what happened >> Closer and closer
        
(Message started by: maryl on Jul 1^st, 2003, 1:11pm)

Title: Closer and closer
Post by maryl on Jul 1^st, 2003, 1:11pm

A man is heading towards the middle of the forest. There is no one waiting for him there, and he is in perfect health, but he knows for sure that when he gets there he is going to die.

What's happening?

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by BNC on Jul 1^st, 2003, 1:58pm

Is he going to suicide?

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by KicksGenius on Jul 1^st, 2003, 2:29pm

[hide] I can't help but believe that he may be heading to the middle of this forest in the 'Fall'[/hide]

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by wowbagger on Jul 2^nd, 2003, 1:35am

???

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by towr on Jul 2^nd, 2003, 2:11am

[hide]perhaps he's piloting a crashing airplane, or just falling without a working parachute[/hide]

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by wowbagger on Jul 2^nd, 2003, 3:56am

Towr, I don't think he could be sure that he's going to die in your scenarios. Unless he [hide]is falling from great height without a parachute,[/hide] perhaps. However, I don't know how chances are to survive that. And how would he know he's heading towards the middle of the forest?

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by maryl on Jul 2^nd, 2003, 8:49am

[hide];D I'm flying
??? Uh oh!
:o It won't open...
:( I'm dying...
... :P[/hide]

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by towr on Jul 2^nd, 2003, 11:45am

on 07/02/03 at 03:56:40, wowbagger wrote:

And how would he know he's heading towards the middle of the forest?

By looking where he is heading.. As they say, seeying is believing..
(and knowing is approximately justifyably believing)

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by zero on Jul 2^nd, 2003, 7:13pm

on 07/02/03 at 08:49:56, maryl wrote:

[hide];D I'm flying
??? Uh oh!
:o It won't open...
:( I'm dying...
... :P[/hide]

heh , I found that quite amusing

well he would know that he's going to the mid dle of the forest if he was high enough so maryl's quote explains it all

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by wowbagger on Jul 3^rd, 2003, 1:46am

on 07/02/03 at 11:45:52, towr wrote:

(and knowing is approximately justifyably believing)

Hm, interesting thought. :-/

on 07/02/03 at 19:13:25, zero wrote:

well he would know that he's going to the mid dle of the forest if he was high enough

I think the higher he is, the less he can know where he is going to, well, land - let alone whether it's going to be in the middle of the forest. But there's not much to be learned from discussing this point any further, I'd say. :)

More or less interesting related facts:
The highest freefall ever survived without a parachute (http://www.distant.ca/UselessFacts/fact.asp?ID=154)
Free Fallers (http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffallers.html)
It almost seems like landing in a forest actually enhances your chances of survival.

Title: Re: Closer and closer
Post by towr on Jul 3^rd, 2003, 2:18am

on 07/03/03 at 01:46:19, wowbagger wrote:

Hm, interesting thought. :-/

Well, it's not my own..
It one of the problems you come across in epistemic logic (logic about knowledge). What is knowing?
If you know something it has to be true, else it is just a belief.
But if you believe you have won the lottery, and you also have, but there is no way you could have allready found out, most people are hard pressed to say you 'know'. So the belief has to be justified as well.

Of course in real life most people say they 'know' when they're just pretty sure, or even when they just hope to be right.