MOTION MOUNTAIN

288 9 concepts, lies and patterns of nature
Challenge 287 e
Challenge 288 s
Challenge 289 e
Challenge 290 s
“Quator verosuntmaxima comprehendendae
veritatis offendicula,quaeomnem
quemcumquesapientem impediunt,etvix
aliquempermittunt adverumtitulum
sapientiae pervenire:videlicetfragilis et
indignaeauctoritatis exemplum, consuetudinis
diurnitatis, vulgisensusimperiti, etpropriae
ignorantiae occultatiocumostentatione
sapientiae apparentis.*
RogerBacon,Opusmajus,1267.” “Esistjanichtalles,wasichdenBürgern sage,
gelogen.**
Chancellor.
KonradAdenauer,1962,WestGerman”
Some lies are entertaining and funny – and are better called jokes –, some are signs of
psychic disturbance, and someare made with criminal intent. Some statementsare not
lies,butsimply nonsense.Have fun distinguishing them.
∗∗
During a church sermon, a man fell asleep. He dreamt about the French revolution: he
was being brought to the guillotine. At that moment, his wife noticed that he wassleeping.
In the same moment in which the man dreamt that the knife was hitting him, his
wifegave him a tap on his neck with her fan.The shock instantly killed the man. – Is this
story true or false?
∗∗
A well-knownbadlie: ‘YesterdayIdrowned.’
∗∗
Starting in the1990s,so-called crop circleswere producedby people walking with stilts,
a piece of wood and some rope into fields of crops. Nevertheless, many pretended and
even more believed that these circles were made by extraterrestrial beings. Can you find
some reasons why this is impossible?
∗∗
Often one hears or reads statements like: ‘mind (or spirit or soul) is stronger than matter.’
Beware of anybody who says this; he wants something from you. Can you show that such
statements are all and always wrong?
∗∗
In certain countries, two lies were particularly frequent in the early twenty-firstcentury.
Thefirst:globalwarmingdoesnotexist.Thesecond:globalwarmingisnotduetohuman
causes.Arethesegoodorbadlies?
* ‘Therearefourstumblingblockstotruthandknowledge:weakandunworthy authority, custom,popular
prejudice,andtheconcealment ofignorance with apparent knowledge.’
** ‘Indeed,not everything that Itell the peopleisalie.’
Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–November 2015 free pdf file available at www.motionmountain.net