Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-04-23/WikiWorld

Re: Buttered Cat experiment

I think it was in the Feedback section of New Scientist that I first saw this phenomenon discussed. I recall them posting someone's correspondance the following week, where he described this action of a spinning cat as purrpetual motion StephenBuxton 09:28, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

There's no purradox if the cat lands on its feet. In that case, the toast doesn't "land" at all, but simply remains unaltered strapped to the cat's back. Rwxrwxrwx 22:54, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

I think the crux of the dilemma is that the cat is exercising free will and choosing to land on its feet while the toast is simply following a law of attraction akin to gravity or the weak nuclear force.... however, just as gravity acts to fell a ball to the ground, but you can choose to override gravity and hold the ball in the air, so can the cat choose to override the butter-ground attraction (unless it is a very small cat and a very large piece of toast).... //// Pacific PanDeist * 02:06, 1 May 2007 (UTC)