Thomson's Lamp

Thomson's Lamp

Release Date:  //1954
Country of Release: 
Length: 
MPAA: 
Medium:  Paradox
Genre: 
Release Message:  Is the lamp switch on or off after exactly two minutes?
Description:  Consider a lamp with a toggle switch. Flicking the switch once turns the lamp on. Another flick will turn the lamp off. Now suppose that there is a being able to perform the following task: starting a timer, he turns the lamp on. At the end of one minute, he turns it off. At the end of another half minute, he turns it on again. At the end of another quarter of a minute, he turns it off. At the next eighth of a minute, he turns it on again, and he continues thus, flicking the switch each time after waiting exactly one-half the time he waited before flicking it previously. The sum of this infinite series of time intervals is exactly two minutes. The following questions are then considered: Is the lamp switch on or off after exactly two minutes? Would the final state be different if the lamp had started out being on, instead of off?