The 10 Most Famous Thought Experiments in History | Xiao Wei Ji - Share Happiness | Discover Freshness | Fun and Interesting

An idea is a mental concept or hypothesis, often similar to a riddle, and it is a simple way for philosophers and scientists to understand what the public thinks. Their application is most extensive in abstract fields such as philosophy and theoretical physics (theoretical physics doesn't need to be done). They are like a grand feast prepared for thought, ultimately providing complex answers. Even if the thought itself is sometimes incomprehensible, this is not surprising. Below are 10 famous ideas and their philosophical, scientific, and ethical implications.

10. The Trolley Problem

It is one of the most well-known thoughts in the field of ethics. It roughly goes like this: A madman ties five innocent people to a trolley track. An out-of-control trolley is coming towards them and is about to run them over. Fortunately, you can pull a lever to divert the trolley onto another track. But there's another problem - the madman has also tied one person to that other track. Think about this situation - should you pull the lever?

Significance:

The trolley problem was first proposed by philosopher Philippa Foot, used to criticize major theories in ethical philosophy, especially utilitarianism. Utilitarianism believes that most moral decisions are made based on the principle of "providing the greatest benefit to the greatest number." From the perspective of a utilitarian, it is obviously necessary to pull the lever, sacrificing one person to save five. However, critics of utilitarianism argue that once you pull the lever, you become immoral - you bear partial responsibility for the death of the one person on the other track. Others believe that this situation requires action; doing nothing is also immoral. In short, there is no completely moral behavior, and that is the point. Many philosophers use the trolley problem as an example to show situations in real life where people are often forced to violate their own moral principles, and sometimes there is no completely moral solution.

9. The Cow in the Field

An important thought experiment in the cognitive domain is "The Cow in the Field." The experiment goes like this: A farmer is worried that his award-winning cow has gone missing. After a milkman arrives at the farm, he reassures the farmer not to worry because he saw the cow nearby. Although the farmer is willing to believe the milkman, he still checks himself. He sees familiar black-and-white stripes and feels satisfied that his cow is there. After a while, the milkman confirms again. The cow is indeed there, but it is hiding in the woods, and there is a large piece of black-and-white striped paper wrapped around a tree. Clearly, the farmer mistook the paper for his cow. The question arises: even though the cow was there all along, was the farmer correct when he said he knew the cow was there?

Significance:

"The Cow in the Field" was initially used by Edmund Gettier to criticize the mainstream JTB (justified true belief) theory of knowledge definition, which states that when people believe something, it becomes knowledge; this thing is factually true and can be sufficiently verified. In the experiment, the farmer's belief that the cow was there was based on the milkman's testimony and his own observation of the black-and-white object. Later, the milkman's confirmation happened to be true. Nevertheless, the farmer did not truly know that the cow was there because his conclusion was based on incorrect premises. Gettier used this experiment and other examples to demonstrate that the theory of defining knowledge as JTB needs revision.

8. The Ticking Bomb

If you've followed recent political current events or watched action movies, then you're probably familiar with the "ticking bomb" experiment. It asks you to imagine that there is a bomb or other weapon of mass destruction hidden in your city, and the countdown is almost up. There is someone in the city who knows the location of the bomb. Would you use torture to make him reveal the information?

Significance:

Similar to the trolley problem, the ticking bomb experiment is an ethical issue that forces a person to choose between two immoral actions. It is generally used to refute statements that torture cannot be used under any circumstances. It is also used as a case where the law can take second place in extreme situations, such as the U.S.'s prohibition of torture. Thanks to TV shows like "24" and some political debates, the ticking bomb has become one of the most frequently mentioned thought experiments. Earlier this year, a British newspaper proposed an even more extreme view. The newspaper said that if the terrorist does not respond to torture, would the authorities be willing to torture his wife and children to force him to reveal the information?

7. Einstein's Light Beam

Few people know that Einstein's famous theory of special relativity was inspired by a thought experiment he had at the age of 16. In his book "Autobiographical Notes," Einstein recalled fantasizing about chasing a beam of light in the universe. He said that if he could move alongside the light at the speed of light, then he should be able to see the light in space as a "constantly oscillating but stationary electromagnetic field." For Einstein, this thought experiment proved that, as an imaginative observer, "anything is possible under the same laws and relative to an observer stationary with respect to Earth."

Significance:

In fact, no one really knows what this means. Scientists have been debating how such a simple thought experiment helped Einstein make the huge leap to the theory of special relativity. At the time, the ideas in this experiment contradicted the now-discredited "ether" theory, which posited the existence of a hidden space through which light travels. It took him many years to prove himself right, but in a sense, this experiment was "harmful" to the theory of special relativity, as he himself said, which first brought him to the pinnacle of theoretical physics.

6. The Ship of Theseus

One of the oldest thought experiments in history is the paradox known as the Ship of Theseus. This experiment was first recorded by Plutarch. It describes a ship that can sail for hundreds of years at sea, thanks to continuous repairs and replacement of parts. Whenever a plank rots, it is replaced, and so on, until none of the parts are the original ones. The question is, is the resulting ship still the original Ship of Theseus, or is it a completely different new ship? If it is not the original ship anymore, when did it stop being the original ship? Philosopher Thomas Hobbes later delved deeper into this: If someone uses the old parts taken from the Ship of Theseus to rebuild a new ship, which of the two ships is the real Ship of Theseus?

Significance:

For philosophers, the Ship of Theseus is used to study the essence of identity, particularly discussing whether an object is merely the sum of its parts. A more modern example is to assume that a band has no original members left at a certain stage. This question can also be applied to other areas such as business. In business, companies retain their original names after constant mergers and changes in shareholders; for the human body, the body continuously undergoes metabolism and self-repair. The core idea of this experiment lies in forcing people to question whether identity is limited only to actual objects and phenomena, challenging common knowledge.

5. Galileo's Gravity Experiment

One of the earliest thought experiments in history was conducted by physicist and astronomer Galileo. To refute Aristotle's theory that the speed of free fall depends on the mass of the object, Galileo designed a simple thought experiment: According to Aristotle's logic, if a lighter object and a heavier object are tied together and thrown off a tower, the heavier object will fall faster, and the rope between the two objects will be tightened. At this point, the lighter object will exert a drag force on the heavier object, slowing down its descent. However, Galileo believed that the combined weight of the two objects should be greater than either individual object, so their combined descent should be the fastest. Thus, he used this contradiction to prove that Aristotle's theory was wrong.

Significance:

There is a famous story about Galileo: Once, he dropped two iron balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to prove that heavier objects do not fall faster than lighter ones. In reality, this story may just be a legend, but this thought experiment proves an important theory about gravity: Regardless of the mass of the object, all objects fall at the same rate in free fall.

4. Monkeys and Typewriters

Another thought experiment that has gained widespread attention in popular culture is the "infinite monkey theorem," also known as the "monkeys and typewriters" experiment. The theorem suggests that if countless monkeys type randomly on countless typewriters for an infinite amount of time, then at some point, they will "almost certainly" produce the entire works of Shakespeare. The idea of monkeys and typewriters was promoted by French mathematician Emile Borel in the early 20th century, but its basic concept, the theory that countless personnel and countless time can produce anything/all things, can be traced back to Aristotle.

Significance:

Simply put, the "monkeys and typewriters" theorem is one of the best ways to describe the nature of infinity. It is difficult for the human brain to imagine infinite space and infinite time, and the infinite monkey theorem helps to understand these concepts. The idea that monkeys could coincidentally write "Hamlet" sounds absurd, but when all possibilities are considered, it can be mathematically proven. This theorem itself cannot be reproduced in real life, but this has not stopped some attempts: In 2003, British science students "tested" the infinite monkey theorem at a British zoo by placing a computer and keyboard in the primate enclosure. Unfortunately, the monkeys did not produce any sonnets. According to the study, they only typed pages filled almost entirely with the letter "s."

3. The Chinese Room

"The Chinese Room" was first proposed by distinguished American philosopher John Searle in the early 1980s. This experiment asks you to imagine a person who speaks only English confined in a nearly completely sealed room with a small window on the door. He has a computer with Chinese-English translation capabilities, plenty of paper, pencils, and filing cabinets. Subsequently, pieces of paper written in Chinese will be passed through the small window into the room. According to Searle's theory, the person in the room can translate these texts and write his replies in Chinese. Although he does not know Chinese at all, Searle believes that through this process, the person inside can make anyone outside think that he speaks fluent Chinese.

Significance:

Searle created the "Chinese Room" thought experiment to refute the notion that computers and other artificial intelligence can truly think. The person in the room does not speak Chinese; he cannot think in Chinese. But because he has certain tools, he can even make native Chinese speakers think that he speaks fluent Chinese. Searle also says that computers work the same way. They cannot truly understand the information they provide, but they can run a program, process information, and give the impression of artificial intelligence.

2. Schrödinger's Cat

Schrödinger's cat was first proposed by physicist Schrödinger and is a paradox in the field of quantum mechanics. It states that a cat is enclosed in a box for an hour along with some radioactive material and a vial of poison. Within an hour, the probability of the radioactive material decaying is 50%. If decay occurs, it will trigger a hammer connected to a Geiger counter, breaking the vial, releasing the poison, and killing the cat. Because the probabilities of the event happening or not are equal, Schrödinger believed that before the box is opened, the cat inside can simultaneously be considered both alive and dead.

Significance:

In short, the main idea of this experiment is that because there is no observer present when the event occurs, the cat inside the box might exist in all states simultaneously (alive and dead in the experiment). This concept resembles an ancient riddle: If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears the sound, did it make a noise? Schrödinger first proposed this experiment in response to an article discussing the essence of quantum state superposition. Schrödinger's cat also illustrates how strange the theories of quantum mechanics can be. This thought experiment is infamous due to its complexity and has led to various interpretations. One of the strangest is the "many-worlds" hypothesis, which suggests that if there is a cat that is both alive and dead, then the two cats exist in different universes without intersecting.

1. The Brain in a Vat

No thought experiment is more influential than the so-called "Brain in a Vat," which spans fields from cognitive science to philosophy to popular culture. This experiment asks you to imagine a mad scientist removing your brain from your body and placing it in a vat filled with life-sustaining liquid. The brain is connected to electrodes, which are linked to a computer capable of generating images and sensory signals. Since all the information you receive about the world is filtered through your brain, this computer has the ability to simulate your daily experiences. If this were truly possible, how would you prove that the world around you is real and not a simulated environment generated by a computer?

Significance:

If this sounds a lot like "The Matrix," you're right. This movie, along with other science fiction novels and films, has been greatly influenced by this experiment. The core idea of the experiment is to make people question the essence of experience and consider what it truly means to be human. The prototype of this experiment can be traced back to Descartes and was popularized by Hilary Putnam. In Descartes' "Meditations on First Philosophy," Descartes questioned whether he could prove that all his sensory experiences were his own and not illusions created by some "evil demon." Descartes answered this question with his classic phrase "I think, therefore I am." Unfortunately, "The Brain in a Vat" complicates the issue because the brain connected to electrodes can still think. This experiment has been widely discussed by philosophers, and there have been many rebuttals to the experiment's premise, yet no one has convincingly responded to its core question: How do you really know what is real?

Smiling: I feel that all previous experiments are weak compared to this one!

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