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227

Portal Paradox (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 99 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I think you'd be able to get it in a little ways before top of the box pushes against its own lid, preventing it from going in any further. If the lid pops back open, then the top of the box will begin sticking out of the box which will likely make it too wide to fit all the way through the wall portal.

But the rules of Portal is that the portals themselves break when moved by any substantial extent anyways so in the game it would just disable the portal altogether.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago (3 children)

But the rules of Portal is that the portals themselves break when moved by any substantial extent anyways

Except when the rules don't apply

[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago

It's the scene with the lasers innit? So many "paradoxes" are solved with the answer of "portals cannot move relative to one another," and then they do the bit with the laser. -_-

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The thing is, movement is relative. Everything on earth is constantly in motion if you're observing from any other celestial body, so motion itself can't be what breaks portals. What it might be, though, is acceleration. Those panels in the video seem to be moving at a constant speed, so aren't experiencing any substantial acceleration, making a portal on them possible

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

you can say they cant move 'relative to each other', but what about the universe supposedly expanding?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

The same reason the Earth or your body isn't expanding along with the universe - gravity is stronger than the expansion rate

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

They can move at a constant speed in a constant direction, but the acceleration would break them.

[+] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You can pass two 2d ovals through each other in a 3D space no problem if they're exactly the same size.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Yes, but can you maintain the property that each point on the orange portal is connected to a point on the blue portal and vice versa? My intuition is that you'd end up with a paradox because you'd end up with a point on one portal connected to two different points on the other, but my analytic geometry skills aren't good enough for me to attempt a proof.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Not sure I'm following. If the portals are exactly the same size, and stay that size, then why would you have to connect one point on one to two points on the other?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Consider these two pixel-oval portals:

  xx         oo
x    x     o    o
x    x     o    o
x    x     o    o
x    x     o    o
  xx         oo

They are the same size, and you can easily make a bijective mapping for each of their pixels.

Rotate one two times in 3D space by 90°, and it fits through the other. If you want more wiggle room, make them taller.