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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[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 days ago

i think I've made that game engine before.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago
[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago

Ugh. This is a good point. Force = energy, and even an immovable object can carry energy. I assume.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 week ago (8 children)

The expression as I heard included "an irresistible force."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

"And irresistible is what I am, baby!"

[–] [email protected] 87 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That's on the nsfw version of xkcd

[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 week ago
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[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Facepalm Man i'm dumb, this is a great answer to that thought experiment.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 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.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

What currency?

I doubt the universe accepts Euro or whatever.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

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

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?" that image doesn't show a force meeting an object

[–] [email protected] 132 points 1 week ago (6 children)

They met, they just didn’t interact. Kinda like me at a work party.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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

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