Difference between revisions of "The mirror paradox"
(New page: Why does a mirror invert around the vertical axis only? If you look at yourself in a mirror your left and right sides are inverted. Up and down stays normal, there must surely be somethin...) |
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If you look at yourself in a mirror your left and right sides are inverted. Up and down stays normal, there must surely be something special about the vertical axis. | If you look at yourself in a mirror your left and right sides are inverted. Up and down stays normal, there must surely be something special about the vertical axis. | ||
| − | The paradox lies in that a mirror just reflects incoming light, it has no preferences for a certain axis. | + | The paradox lies in that a mirror just reflects incoming light, it has no preferences for a certain axis. Since the mirror does not have any ability to invert around a certain axis; it is in direct conflict with what we observe. |
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| + | Since the mirror is not the cause of the observet effect then the observer must be the cause. The answer is that evolution has adapted humans very well to gavity. So well that most people have only one physical way of turning themselves to look at a mirror, that is by rotating around the vertical axis. The result is that this translation is considered the normal and only sensible solution. An acrobat would easily flip arund the horizontal axis, look in the mirror and conclude that a mirror turns everything upside down but leaves right and left where they should. | ||
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| + | If you still have problems resolving the paradox it is because you use yourself as a reference point and confuse yourself as you imagine the rotations. | ||
Revision as of 02:55, 4 April 2007
Why does a mirror invert around the vertical axis only?
If you look at yourself in a mirror your left and right sides are inverted. Up and down stays normal, there must surely be something special about the vertical axis.
The paradox lies in that a mirror just reflects incoming light, it has no preferences for a certain axis. Since the mirror does not have any ability to invert around a certain axis; it is in direct conflict with what we observe.
Since the mirror is not the cause of the observet effect then the observer must be the cause. The answer is that evolution has adapted humans very well to gavity. So well that most people have only one physical way of turning themselves to look at a mirror, that is by rotating around the vertical axis. The result is that this translation is considered the normal and only sensible solution. An acrobat would easily flip arund the horizontal axis, look in the mirror and conclude that a mirror turns everything upside down but leaves right and left where they should.
If you still have problems resolving the paradox it is because you use yourself as a reference point and confuse yourself as you imagine the rotations.
