I was reading some paradox's the other day, and found this one:
What would happen if Pinocchio said "My nose will grow now"?
The theory is that if his nose doesn't grow, he is lying so his nose will grow, so then he's telling the truth so his nose won't grow, but then he's lying... etc.
But I dissagree.
By him saying that his nose will grow, he is just making a guess. His nose may or may not grow- he can't lie about something he can't know the answer to. It's like if there are two doors, A and B, and one has money behind them, but I don't know which one. You ask me to choose one, and I pick wrong. I was not lying, it was just bad luck that I got it wrong. Howver, if I said I knew one of the doors had the money behind them, I would be lying, regardless of whether I got it right or not. So if Pinocchio said "I know my nose will grow in response to this statement", that would be a lie and his nose would grow, but it wouldn't be because he had somehow predicted the outcome. Otherwise Pinocchio (were he real) could be asked and question about anything, and his mystical nose could solve all sorts of problems.
I think it depends on your view of the truth. Going back to my door analogy: I have picked the wrong door, and they have closed. I am then asked to say what door has the money again. But what I don't know is that the doorkeeper man (let's call him Fred) has switched the money. And I say, "I know it is behind door A". I am not lying. In my mind, that is the absolute truth. But in actual fact, the truth is the money is behind door B. And to a rich man, the truth is it doesn't even matter where the money is.
So what I'm saying is, even the truth is relative. And if we can't even rely on something as fundemental as that, what can we rely on?
