Labyrinths of reason : paradox, puzzles and the fragility of knowledge

This sharply intelligent, consistently provocative book takes the reader on an astonishing, thought-provoking voyage into the realm of delightful uncertainty--a world of paradox in which logical argument leads to contradiction and common sense is seemingly rendered irrelevant.From the Trade Paperback edition. William Poundstone takes us on an astonishing intellectual voyage into realms of delightful uncertainty. The paradoxes he explores are not hard to understand. In fact, upon first hearing one, most people think they know the answer - until they think again. And that is precisely what Poundstone makes us do here - he makes us think, and think again, about matter and antimatter, black holes and time travel, coded manuscripts and unbreakable codes, Holmesian deductive puzzles and formulas for generating prime numbers, Plato's cave and Searle's Chinese room, free will and determinism, and a computer as big as the universe Paradox -- Induction: Hempel's Raven -- Categories: The Grue-bleen Paradox -- The Unknowable: Nocturnal Doubling -- Interlude: The Puzzles Of John H. Watson, M.d. -- Deduction: The Paradox Of The Heap -- Belief: The Unexpected Hanging -- The Impossible: The Expectancy Paradox -- Infinity: The Thomson Lamp -- Np-completeness: The Labyrinth Of Ts'ui Pên -- Meaning: Twin Earth -- Mind: Searle's Chinese Room -- Omniscience: Newcomb's Paradox. William Poundstone. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.