Buradian’s Ass
You have a donkey, which is equally as hungry as it is thirsty. You place the animal an equal distance between food and water, and the donkey ends up dying because it cannot make a decision between the two, each being just as important. In this thought experiment I equate the donkey to man, and the decision that falls on his shoulders in Matthew 6:24. Will he choose God, or mammon? If he doesn’t make a decision he will find himself in a state of stagnation.
Hot Girl Paradox
This one involves the age-old question that has plagued the campus, and hundreds more, for centuries (I would even go as far as to say since the dawn of man). Why do attractive women date and marry ugly dudes? I mean, when I look in the mirror I’m super glad that it happens because I’m no Lou Ferrigno.
The Lady and the Tiger
In an old kingdom, there is a King who has implemented a unique system of law. When someone is accused of a crime, the accused is placed in an arena with 2 identical doors in front of him. Behind one door is the fiercest tiger in the land, ready to spring and tear the defendant to shreds. Behind the second door is a beautiful woman hand picked by the king. If the defendant picks the woman, he is declared innocent and will be forced to marry her no matter what his marital status is. It would not matter if he is already married and loves his wife, he would be forced to live out the remainder of his life with her. If the defendant picks the door with the tiger, he is eaten alive and assumed to be guilty.
A lowly man accused of a crime falls in love with the king’s daughter. The two are madly in love and could not imagine themselves separated. Being the king’s daughter, the girl sees which door the tiger is put in. She holds the fate of her love in her hands. As the man is placed in the arena, he steals a glance at his love and she signals in the briefest of instants to him. But which door does she choose? Does she watch him die or watch him be forced to love another for the rest of their lives?
Schrödinger’s Cat
A cat is placed in a steel box containing a tiny amount of radioactive material and a vial of poison. The amount of radioactive material is so tiny that it could decay at any moment, triggering a hammer, which would smash the vial, release the poison, and kill the cat. Since the moment when the radioactive substance decays is not predictable, it is impossible to know whether the cat is dead or alive at any given moment. Therefore, the cat is simultaneously dead and alive from the perspective of the observer.
Brain in a Vat
If you were to plug a brain into a computer and feed it the same impulses as someone who was walking down the street, a brain in a vat would be no different than a brain in a skull. Broken down to a basic, the sensations we feel are nothing more than electric impulses firing in our brain, if it were possible to recreate those in a machine, how could we define reality?
Ship of Thesesus
Also referred to sometimes as Heraclitus’ river, this paradox has to do with the idea surrounding the replacement of the whole. If you were to step into a flowing river, then step back out of it, then re enter the river again; did you step into the same river? The notion has to do with what identity really is. Our body changes throughout our life, but we still remain the same person, right?
Twin Paradox
In this experiment you have a set of identical twins. One is sent into space faster than the speed of light, while the other remains on Earth. The twin who went to space returns home after a time and finds that she has aged less than her twin who stayed on Earth. There are many different interpretations and ideas surrounding this paradox, the one I addressed in this one was the concept of a life lived. Who, out of the two twins, has had a full life? Which one would consider their life well spent?
Meinong’s Jungle
In this thought experiment, Alexius Meinong poses a question about the existence of thoughts. If we think of something, doesn’t it exist in some manner somewhere, if only in your imagination? Since we have the ability to reference these imaginary objects, they must exist somewhere. They reside in a place called Meinong’s Jungle. A place where anything you can imagine exists.
* This last piece will have a bunch more updates, because what happens is, the painting is basically a giant chalkboard, my thought on it was to have any and everyone draw whatever they wanted on it, and at the end of the night I erase out all the chalk and then people draw all over it again. So everyday there is something new, this photo was after the first night
7 comments:
intense.
nice BFA show! I will come up there soon and see it in person. It is cool that you actually had a concept. I still don't have one. sweet work.
who is that girl in all the paintings? it seems like she has some of issues. Also nice work.
Thanks you three, I miss the Moulton Clan, I wanted to hang out with all the printmakers so I went black and white for you guys. Nick I can't wait to have you come up here and hang out, same with Chris when you come pick up your brother and see his lady too
It's hard to pick a favorite. I really like Meinong's Jungle, like, a lot. It's beautiful, and I'm astounded by the interactive aspect of it. I like the question you pose in Buradian's Ass.
I like the work you've created in the Brain in a Vat, but I hate the question, as I've always hated it, because I find the light it shines upon perception and reality is too uncomfortable.
Also, I'm going to just assume the chess pieces in The Lady and the Tiger are an homage to the Twilight Saga, and leave it at that.
Well, done. We were with you in spirit, pounding you proudly on the back, and taking you to seedy bars afterward.
I think I met that girl once Chris. She does have a ton of issues. Bucket of nuts if you ask me
A man sits in a small office in Rigby Hall on the campus of BYU-Idaho. He is faced with the age-old dilemma of whether to proceed downstairs and purchase another package of Rolos to support his burgeoning waistline, or to trek across the DMZ of campus to attend a friend's BFA exhibit. Therefore, the man is simultaneously dead and alive from the perspective of the observer.
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