Paradox Files
Logical contradictions and conceptual puzzles that expose the limits of human reasoning. These cases examine situations where common sense fails, where perfect solutions become impossible, and where our fundamental assumptions about reality come into question.
Cardan Grille Anachronism – Can a Sixteenth-Century Mask Fit the Voynich?
Does the Voynich Manuscript hide text written through a Cardan grille? We test the dates, the device’s history, and the text’s behaviour to see if a sixteenth-century mask could plausibly fit a fifteenth-century book.
The Voynich’s Two Voices – A Field Guide to A and B
Statistical fingerprints in the Voynich Manuscript split the text into two dialect families, Currier A and Currier B. We map where each sits in the book, which hands wrote them, and what that distribution implies.
The Fermi Paradox – How a Misunderstanding Killed the Search for Aliens
The Fermi Paradox rests on a faulty premise. Our investigation shows how a lunchtime chat was twisted into a 'paradox' that twice shut down NASA's search for extraterrestrial intelligence. It is not a story about a silent universe, it's a story about a failure of logic.
The Voynich Paradox – When Evidence Points Both Ways
Evidence suggests the Voynich Manuscript is a meaningless hoax. Yet statistical analysis proves its text behaves like a real language. This investigation isn't about deciphering the book, but exploring the paradox at its heart.
The Credibility Paradox – Who Decides What’s True?
A respected doctor's fraud destroys vaccine trust. Anonymous sources expose presidential cover-ups. We investigated why our credibility filters fail catastrophically, who really decides what's true, and why it's about to get much worse.
Philip K. Dick’s VALIS Experience – Timeline, Testimony, and Missing Evidence
What really happened during Philip K. Dick’s 1974 VALIS experience? This investigation maps the confirmed facts, missing records, and unresolved contradictions still debated today.
The Dash That Wouldn’t Die – Investigating the AI Punctuation Paradox
Why does AI overuse the em dash? This case traces its literary roots, digital quirks, and what one punctuation mark reveals about machine authorship.
The Ethical Event Horizon – Where Moral Maps Dissolve
When every choice results in harm, is it still possible to act ethically? This deep dive explores the boundary where morality collapses into paradox.
The Silence Amplifier – When Nothing Becomes Everything
The pursuit of absolute silence consistently generates racing thoughts, phantom sounds, and anxiety. From anechoic chambers to ancient mystics, evidence shows that silence isn't empty, it's a psychological boundary that reveals what we've been drowning out.
The Expertise Trap – Why We Trust Amateurs Over Experts
Some speak with confidence. Others speak with knowledge. This piece investigates why the louder voice so often wins, and what it costs us.