The rabbit that can never be caught
My running speed is twice that of the rabbit. Now there is a distance between the rabbit and me. I want to catch up with it, and it keeps running. According to objective facts, each time the distance between the rabbit and me will be reduced by half, and the time taken each time will also be halved. Yet I can never catch the rabbit. How is this possible?
Replies (11)
Because objectively speaking, if it didn't shrink by half each time, you would never catch up. But subjectively, if you are twice as fast as the rabbit, you can catch up.
For example, if the distance between you and the rabbit is 1 meter, even if you keep halving that meter, it will never become 0, so no matter what, there will always be some distance between you and the rabbit (though don't we just reach out and grab the rabbit?)
What does it mean to say that, objectively, the distance is shortened by half and the time is shortened by half? I don't know what the original poster wants to express. But at every moment, the distance between the person and the rabbit is decreasing. The shortened distance can be considered as the distance the rabbit has traveled. If the person has a relative speed to the rabbit, why can't they catch up? Isn't this like the idea that if you drink half of the water each time, you'll never finish it?
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