What is the Paradox of Enrichment? The Paradox of Enrichment is an ecological concept that shows us how giving too much food to a certain animal group can actually cause problems. It seems strange, but when we give too much food to some animals, we might accidentally make it harder for them to survive. This is because adding food changes how many animals there are in the wild, both the ones that g... »
What is the Grandfather Paradox? The Grandfather Paradox is like a brain teaser that comes up when you think about time travel. Imagine if you had a time machine, and you went back to the past, way before your parents were born, and did something to prevent your grandfather from ever meeting your grandmother. Now, if your grandfather never met your grandmother, your parent wouldn’t exist, an... »
What is the Omnipotence Paradox? The Omnipotence Paradox is like a challenging puzzle about the idea of being all-powerful. Imagine someone can do absolutely anything, like the God in many religions. Now, ask this question: can this all-powerful person make a object so big and heavy that they can’t lift it themselves? If they can make such a object, it seems they aren’t all-powerful af... »
What is Münchhausen Trilemma? The Münchhausen Trilemma asks a big question: can we ever really prove anything 100%? Think about it. When you try to show something is true, you usually need to use other facts to support it. But what about those facts? We need to prove they’re true, too! This trilemma, a fancy word for saying there are three tough options, says every time we try to prove somet... »
What is the Sleeping Beauty Problem? The Sleeping Beauty Problem makes us think hard about chances (probability) and what we believe about our place and time in the world (self-locating belief). Imagine a story where someone, called Sleeping Beauty, is in a strange science test. In this puzzle, made in the year 2000 by a thinker named Adam Elga, Sleeping Beauty signs up for an odd test. On the fir... »
What is it? The Liar Paradox is a riddle that has puzzled smart minds for many, many years. Imagine someone makes a statement and then says that their statement is not true. If what they’re saying is actually correct, then it can’t be false. But if it’s false, that would mean they’re actually telling the truth. It’s like a brain teaser that doesn’t have a clear ... »
What is the Paradox of Choice? The Paradox of Choice happens when having a lot of options does not make us happier but instead makes it tougher to decide. The idea was first introduced by Barry Schwartz in his book in 2004, telling us that while a few choices make us feel in power and joyful, too many can stress us out. We usually think more choices are good. However, the Paradox of Choice shows u... »
What is the Paradox of Analysis? The Paradox of Analysis is a puzzle in philosophy that deals with how we can explain things without ending up going around in circles or saying something wrong. Imagine you’re trying to explain what a “game” is. It seems simple, right? But the deeper you go, the trickier it gets. You might say a game is something with rules, points, and a way to w... »
What is the Paradox of Tragedy? The Paradox of Tragedy is something that really puzzles people. It’s about how we react with our emotions to sad stories in things like movies or books. Here’s one way to look at it: Imagine eating really spicy food that makes you sweat and your mouth feel like it’s on fire. Oddly enough, you might actually like it. Now, replace the spicy food with... »
What is a Brain Teaser Paradox? A Brain Teaser Paradox is a particular type of riddle that gets more puzzling the more you think about it. It’s like a trick for the brain that seems to say one thing but means something else, or it presents a problem that appears to have no solution. Imagine you’re on a treasure hunt but the map you’re using has instructions that seem to go in cir... »