History Main / LogicBomb

Not to be confused with LogicalFallacies (though some Logic Bombs use the fallacies listed in that page). For a similar mutually negating pair of principles, see ''Catch22''.

Not to be confused with LogicalFallacies (though some Logic Bombs use the fallacies listed in that page). For a similar mutually negating pair of principles, see Catch22.

Not to be confused with LogicalFallacies (though some Logic Bombs use the fallacies listed in that page).

* In the TimeWarpTrio book ''2095'', the Trio crashes what amounts to a robotic telemarketer by telling it that their respective account numbers are ''e'', pi, and 100 divided by 3. All three are numbers that go on forever. [[ArtisticLicenseEngineering This of course ignores the fact that real life computers cut off such decimals after an arbitrary number of digits.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Grey}}'', the protagonist defeats the MasterComputer Toy, who thinks to be a god and wants to exterminate all of humanity, by asking him how can he be worshipped if there is nobody left to believe in him. This stuns momentarily the AI, just as long as to let Grey deal the final blow on it.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes''. Dr Doom pulls a FreakyFridayFlip on Reed, but before he does he informs his robots not to obey any order given to them by him (Doom). When Reed (in Doom's body) tells one of them to "self terminate", it tells him that Doom had said not to. When he commands it again, it obeys because "Doom's word is law".

Also note that RidiculouslyHumanRobots (and some very advanced [=AIs=]) are generally able to recognize and defuse logic bombs on sight, long before they go off (and may be GenreSavvy enough to view this as a particularly irritating kind of FantasticRacism). Some [[TooDumbtoFool ridiculously dumb AIs]] are also immune to logic bombs by virtue of not ''understanding'' the concept of paradox.

If you give a computer nonsensical orders in the [[RealLife real world]] it will, generally, do nothing (or possibly appear to freeze as it loops eternally trying to find a solution to the unsolvable problem presented to it). In fiction-land however, [[ExplosiveOverclocking it will explode]]. It may start stammering, "I must... but I can't... But I must..." beforehand. The easiest way to confuse it is with the Liar paradox, i.e. "this statement is a lie". A fictional computer will attempt to debate and solve the paradox until it melts down. If the computer is a robot, this will probably result in YourHeadASplode.

* The Ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea proposed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno_paradox several famous logical paradoxes]] which completely baffled his contemporaries. They reference ideas about time and its relation to objects in motion that was beyond Greek Logicians of the day. Contemporary philosophers who tried to refute his conclusions found themselves hitting the brick wall which was the most basic rule of Logic: unsound conclusions are reached by unsound methods. Basically, it wasn't enough to simply state that his conclusions were wrong; they needed to prove ''why'' they were wrong, by analyzing his reasoning and locating the flaw in it. And yet, as near as they could determine, there was ''no'' flaw in Zeno's reasoning. Common sense dictated that Zeno's conclusions were unsupportable, even ridiculous - everyone ''knew'' a man could outrun a turtle, for example - but the method he used to come to those conclusions was sound...which meant that his conclusions had to be true. Not even Aristotle could resolve the dichotomy; his solution was simply not to engage, out of fear of getting trapped in an infinite loop.
** There is a school of thought that Zeno never meant for the paradoxes to be taken as serious philosophical questions, but rather to illustrate a flaw in the Logical method.

* The Ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea proposed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno_paradox several famous logical paradoxes]] which completely baffled his contemporaries. They reference ideas about time and its relation to objects in motion that was beyond Greek Logicians of the day; even today mathematicians and physicists are debating them. Contemporary philosophers who tried to refute his conclusions found themselves hitting the brick wall which was the most basic rule of Logic: unsound conclusions are reached by unsound methods. And yet, Zeno's method, as near as anyone else could determine, was sound. Even if common sense dictated that his conclusions were ridiculous and unsupportable, other philsophers could find no flaw in his reasoning...which meant that they must be true. Not even Aristotle could resolve the dichotomy; his solution was simply not to engage, out of fear of getting trapped in an infinite loop.

* From the list of ''ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG''. Item #199 states that "My third wish cannot be 'I wish you wouldn't grant this wish.'"

* Subverted on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', "A Tale of Two Santas": Leela tries to stop the murderous Santa Claus robot with a paradox, and succeeds in getting his head to explode, only for him to instantly rebuilt it and [[OutGambitted proudly proclaim]] that he is "built with paradox-absorbing crumple zones".

* Shows up in an exchange between [[VideoGame/{{Borderlands}} Claptrap]] and [=GLaDOS=] in ''VideoGame/PokerNight2''. Might possibly be a CallBack to ''Portal 2'', although it {{retcon}}s [=GLaDOS=]' suceptibility to them in favor of RuleOfFunny.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'': There are posters throughout the facility that advise employees to stay calm and shout a paradox if an AI goes rogue. [[note]] Funnily enough, one of them is actually ''wrong''--Russell's Paradox, "Does the set of all sets that do not contain themselves contain itself?" is written as "Does the set of all sets contain itself?" Of course it does; it's a set.[[/note]] [[spoiler: Also, [=GLaDOS=] attempts to do this to destroy the BigBad, Wheatley. Turns out he's [[TooDumbToFool too dumb to understand logic problems.]] It does, however, fry all of the modified, "lobotomized" turrets in the room, meaning even ''they're'' smarter than Wheatley. [=GLaDOS=] survives the logic bomb herself by willing herself not to think about it, though she declares that it still almost killed her.]]

* ''PlanescapeTorment'' has a character who successfully convinces a man that he does not, in fact, exist. As a result he ceases to do so. Though to be fair the game is set in a ''D&D'' setting in which a system of [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve "Whatever you believe, is"]] has replaced all laws of nature.

* {{Subverted}} (by pre-emptively [[DefiedTrope defying]] it) in ''SluggyFreelance'', chapter "Mecha Easter Bunny". The Mecha Easter Bunny locks down when it encounters multiple targets that look like Bun-bun, which it is supposed to kill, but then the backup "@#%$-IT KILL THEM ALL!" system created for such situations activates.

* The Ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea proposed several famous logical paradoxes which completely baffled his contemporaries. They reference ideas about time and its relation to objects in motion that was beyond Greek Logicians of the day; even today mathematicians and physicists are debating them. Contemporary philosophers who tried to refute his conclusions found themselves hitting the brick wall which was the most basic rule of Logic: unsound conclusions are reached by unsound methods. And yet, Zeno's method, as near as anyone else could determine, was sound. Even if common sense dictated that his conclusions were ridiculous and unsupportable, other philsophers could find no flaw in his reasoning...which meant that they must be true. Not even Aristotle could resolve the dichotomy; his solution was simply not to engage, out of fear of getting trapped in an infinite loop.

* On ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' episode "Ghost Channel", Jérémie's courage makes XANA Logic Bomb because EvilCannotComprehendGood: "No! It's not logical... NOT LOGICAL! '''[[NightmareFuel NOT LOGICAL!]]'''"

* The Ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea proposed several famous logical paradoxes which completely baffled his contemporaries. They reference ideas about time and its relation to objects in motion that was beyond Greek Logicians of the day; even today mathematicans and physicists are debating them. Contemporary philosophers who tried to refute his conclusions found themselves hitting the brick wall which was the most basic rule of Logic: unsound conclusions are reached by unsound methods. And yet, Zeno's method, as near as anyone else could determin, was sound. Even if common sense dictated that his conclusions were ridiculous and unsupportable, other philsophers could find no flaw in his reasoning...which meant that they must be true. Not even Aristotle could resolve the dichotomy; his solution was simply not to engage, out of fear of getting trapped in an infinite loop.

* The Ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea proposed several famous logical paradoxes which completely baffled his contemporaries. They reference ideas about time and its relation to objects in motion that no one had ever considered before, and while other philosophers could dismiss his conclusions as ridiculous, they could find no flaw in his reasoning (which is a basic tenet of resolving logical paradoxes: both method and conclusion must be unsound). Not even Aristotle could resolve the dichotomy; his solution was simply not to engage, out of fear of going insane.