…sentences. My favorite in the self-defeating genre is one (perhaps apocryphally) attributed to von Braun: “You can’t make something fool proof, because fools are too ingenious.”
Also, how Buzz Lightyear made a child self-aware.
[Both links via Geek Press]
My favorite: “This sentence no verb.” I think I first saw it in Godel Escher Bach.
Buzz Lightyear link is 404.
Should be fixed now, thanks.
It is the awareness of the father that impresses me. This is how humans ‘evolve.’
My ex grew up in a culture I have little understanding of and her understanding of things, which often seems childlike to me when she expresses some realization about herself and the new world I’ve brought her to, brings wonder and fascination to me.
Sometimes it’s good to be human even if that means sometimes it’s not.
Should be fixed now, thanks.
The title needs fixing, too. The topic of the article is “self-defeating sentences,” not “self-referential sentences.”
No, the topic is self-referential sentences in general, of which self-defeating ones are a subset (though an implicit one), but it discusses more than that.
Links link to…
Only idiots believe this sentence.
Kirk could have used that one on Nomad.
We have a couple of family favorites, in addition to the others at the link:
1: If this sentence were in the subjunctive it would be contrary to fact.
2: I am not either whining.
I was once asked (disparagingly) if I’d ever been wrong. I said, “There was one time when I thought I was wrong, but it turned out I’d been mistaken”.
The worrisome thing about the ability of movies to evoke empathy is the complete freedom of Hollywood to inject whatever values they want into their product. Their bias is unspoken and the result is almost subliminal. To some extent this phenomenon has been with us since the days of Homer (the Greek poet, not the nuclear plant worker) but the effectiveness and broad availability of movies and television, coupled with the isolation and concentration of the entertainment industry, have amplified the problem.
Thing is, I still like to go to the movies. After I take my kids to a movie I am always careful to have a discussion about the symbolism — and biases — in the movie.
“Curses only work if you believe in them, and I don’t.”
also, Voodoo.