this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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xkcd

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Title text:

Unstoppable force-carrying particles can't interact with immovable matter by definition.

Transcript:

[An arrow pointing to the right and a trapezoid are labeled as 'Unstoppable Force' and 'Immovable Object' respectively.]
[The arrow is shown as entering the trapezoid from the left and the part of it in said trapezoid is coloured gray.]
[The arrow is shown as leaving the trapezoid to the right and is coloured black.]
[Caption below the panel:] I don't see why people find this scenario to be tricky.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3084/

explainxkcd for #3084

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[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 35 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (7 children)

Maybe the universe will crash due to division by zero, floating-point error, integer overflow and segmentation fault, all of them occurring simultaneously. The objects will experience infinite velocity and infinite forces, there will be rounding errors, the system will run out of RAM and storage space. The universal CPU will max out all threads, and run out of cooling capacity. The hardware catches fire, the entire universe immediately collapses into a singularity, resulting in a new big bang as the system reboots. Oh, and the log files are corrupted, so good luck troubleshooting that one.

[–] gnufuu@infosec.pub 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A popup will appear asking you to buy the "Extended Physics" DLC

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

First billion years free. After that it’s 17.99 per millennia.

[–] lud@lemm.ee 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

What currency?

I doubt the universe accepts Euro or whatever.

[–] noxonad@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

It's just 17.99. Take it or leave it.

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago

That's actually how black holes are made

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[–] jecxjo@midwest.social 20 points 6 days ago

i think I've made that game engine before.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 21 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Noooooo! You're violating my binary thinking! Either A or B has to win!

[–] Charlxmagne@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago (6 children)

Pretty sure none of these exist so idk why it bothered any1 in the first place.

[–] Smokeydope@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

There are some pretty close physical analogs that are fun to think about. You cant move a black hole by exerting physical force on it in the normal way so practically infinite gravity wells are like a immovable "object", though if you're sufficently nerdy enough you can cook some fun ways to harness its gravitational rotation into a kind of engine, or throw another black hole at it to create a big explosion and some gravitational waves which are like a kind of unstoppable force moving at the speed of light.

[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 7 points 6 days ago

Relevant username

You can attract a black hole using gravity tho

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

if people only bothered to think about things that exist (especially things that they think exist) we would probably go the way of the dodo. funnily enough that would prevent the dodos from going that way but whatever.

I highly recommend watching the Vsauce video on supertasks—it's a great video as expected from Vsauce but also ends on a great note about people and their tendency to think about things like this.

[–] Harvey656@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You clearly haven't met my mother.

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Is the an unstoppable force or an immovable object or a little bit of both?

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Neutrinos are pretty close to an unstoppable force: they can pass right through the earth without being stopped.

I believe this is an expectation of dark matter, to being even closer to an unstoppable force. Perhaps a reason we haven’t found it yet would a because we don’t have a detector that can stop it

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

These kinds of contradicitons exist in man made structures, such as laws, rules and regulations. In situations like that, a judge has to pick which rule to follow and which one to ignore. The first time that happens, it becomes the standard solution (precedent) for those kinds of problems.

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[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago (10 children)

so if god creates rock so heavy that it can't lift it, its hand just passes through the rock? makes sense.

[–] Gladaed@feddit.org 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A rock so heavy you cannot lift it is not an immovable object. Just cause you are weak does not mean you are right.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] traceur301@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Dear God,

A rock so heavy you cannot lift it is not an immovable object. Just cause you are weak does not mean you are right.

Kind regards, me

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)
[–] humorlessrepost@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Joke’s on you, old man! I have a chariot of iron!

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[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (6 children)

I think if God creates a rock so heavy he can't lift it, it's probably a black hole. By definition we can't know what happens inside a black hole, because no information escapes the event horizon. As it's now consistent with known physics that we can't know many aspects of this interaction between God and the black hole, I think this paradox is basically solved. We don't know any more about the interaction, but it's no longer a paradox, it's consistent with physics.

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[–] Saleh@feddit.org 6 points 6 days ago (2 children)

God is distinct from the creation and has no physical shape inside the creation so the idea of "object too heavy to lift" is already conceptually nonsensical.

But also in the scope of our physics: What would an object be that is too heavy to "lift" for anyone and anything? It would be the heaviest object in the universe. So what will happen with the heaviest object in the universe? It would be the main center of gravity for everything else. In the same way you cannot "lift" the earth, but rather lift yourself from it as your force will just propel you away from the earth rather than the earth away from you, while you are inside the area dominated by earths gravitational field.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (6 children)

When you jump you are pushing the earth away from yourself a little bit, and then some of your gravity pulls the earth back toward you. You have moved the earth, and for a brief moment your jump has in fact altered Earth's orbit.

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[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I create an immovable basketball hoop.

You have an unstoppable basketball.

What's the issue?

[–] Shardikprime@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

I like to jam, but sometimes I also like to slam

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[–] argarath@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

Dammit I should have posted my exact same solution back when I thought of it for the first time, but I was lazy so eh my fuck up

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago
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