Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Satanic Paradox

The Last Time's post count is currently 666. Or, at least, that is the case during the interval of time which sees me typing this post.

Of course, this post, in being made, ends the very occasion it is intended to mark. So, if you are reading this post (and unless you are me typing this post), then the phrase "the Last Time's post count is currently 666" is false if interpreted as referring to the time of your reading.

A solution to this difficulty which might prima facie seem promising would be to have posted "The Last Time's post count is currently 666" at a time when the post count was 665. However, while this would eliminate the tendency to interpret the quoted sentence in a falsificatory manner (as explained in the preceding paragraph), it would also have make a liar out of me, since the sentence would have been false at the time at which it would have been typed in this counterfactual scenario.

(It should be noted that this is not a true paradox; so the title of this post might seem to be presumptuous. But, as everyone knows, Satan is a deceiver, so one should not expect the "paradox" to be a genuine one.)

No comments: