60 second Adventure in Thought

Can a cat be both alive and dead? Can a computer think? Can a tortoise outrun a hero? Voiced by comedian David Mitchell, these fast-paced animations explain six famous thought experiments. Includes the Grandfather Paradox, which questions whether you can go back in time and kill your own grandfather. If you kill him, you won't be born, so who killed your grandfather?

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Voiced by comedian David Mitchell, these fast-paced animations explain six famous thought experiments that have changed the way we see the world. Subjects as vast as time travel, infinity and artificial intelligence are squeezed into 60-second clips that will tickle your funny bone and blow your mind.

Achilles and the Tortoise
Can a tortoise beat a legendary hero in a race? Even if the tortoise has a slight head start, most of us would bet on the hero. Yet if every time the hero catches up, the tortoise is moving forward again, he might never overtake him. So what has this bizarre paradox got to do with your mortgage payments?

The Grandfather Paradox
Most of us would love to travel back in time, but we could really make a mess while we’re there. If you went back in time and killed your own grandfather, would you have ever been born? And if you weren’t born, who killed your grandfather?

The Chinese Room
Does a computer have to understand in order to be intelligent? Alan Turing, father of the computer, argued that if a computer can convince a human they are talking with another human, then it can be said to think. Yet is it any different from a man sitting in a room with a Chinese dictionary trying to convince a Chinese speaker outside the room that he is fluent?

Hilbert’s Infinite Hotel
A never-ending hotel, always full of guests, helps to explain infinity. Mathematician David Hilbert imagined he ran a hotel with an infinite number of rooms and guests. No matter how matter guests turn up, can he always find them a bed for the night? One thing’s for sure: you’ll need to get down early for breakfast.

The Twin Paradox
If time flies when you’re having fun, what does it do if you’re in space? Einstein worked out that the faster you move through space, the slower you move through time. If Albert’s twin brother travelled into space, the earthbound twin would age at normal rate, but the astronaut would stay young!

Schrödinger’s Cat
Physicist Erwin Schrödinger was probably more of a dog person. This famous experiment tackling quantum theory involves putting a cat in a potentially lethal box. Along with the cat are a radioactive particle and a Geiger counter attached to a vial of cat poison. If the particle decays, it’s bad news for the cat. But particles can be in two states at once – will the cat make it out alive?