Chapter 4 Preface Give me a reason to think

Every time I watch a magic show, my curiosity is endlessly stimulated, and it seems to be close to a kind of transcendence of human ability. I remember that there is a kind of magic that turns a ball into a bunch of balls, which is very mysterious. Later, I heard from a friend that mathematicians have proved that after dividing a ball into several parts, they can be reassembled into two balls of the same size as the original ball!I am even more confused. When we were very young, we heard such a story: In ancient times, a businessman from the state of Chu advertised in order to promote sales—this form is also called "yelling" in most places in China—the spears I sold It is so sharp that there is no shield in the world that it cannot pierce; but at the same time he still deals in shields, so he said - the shields I sell are so strong that there is no spear in the world that can pierce them!After publicity, the sales volume increased. One day a passer-by heard the cries and asked the businessman, "You said your spear is the sharpest and your shield is the strongest in the world, so use your spear to pierce the businessman." What will happen to your shield?" So we now use the word "contradictory" to refer to things that contradict each other and are inconsistent.What's interesting is that when I was walking on the street a few days ago, when I passed a certain big shopping mall, someone came up to me and asked me, "Do you want a blockbuster movie?" She, so I said to him, there are too many fakes (fake pirated copies).The man hurriedly said, absolutely not, I am here every day, if you come to me for a fake one, I promise to replace it.I said, no, if you are not here, where can I find you?He hurriedly said that it must be there, and he must be able to find it.I said, I still have something to do, I will come here in a few days, and I will buy from you next time.He was in a hurry and blurted out, then where are you going to find me!

You see, how lovely life is! The word "paradox" has not been used as a technical term in China for too long because contradictory language or things are often dismissed as wrong.But the meaning of paradox is broader than the usual use of the word "contradiction". It has a long history, but it is not called that in Chinese.For example, the "Story of Spear and Shield" above is a kind of paradox. Paradox is different from ordinary puzzles. It is not for developing intelligence but for training thinking ability.We can find from the following paradoxes: each paradox is very interesting, this is not a man-made description or arrangement, in fact, the reason is that each paradox is a challenge to people's daily thinking.In the face of paradox, common sense or intuition often make us dizzy, and there is always a feeling that our brains are not enough.

So, what exactly is a paradox?What are the paradoxes?Why are paradoxes interesting?  …. "Look at yourself, oh! Not in the mirror. What? In the water? Please close your eyes! Let's get started!"