Puzzles and Paradoxes

By Michael H. Hart

Embark on an intellectual adventure with Puzzles and Paradoxes, a captivating book that presents 33 thought-provoking questions spanning history, the physical world, biology, philosophy, specific events, and miscellaneous topics, enticing readers to unravel mysteries and seek profound understanding.

From the fall of Rome to the Golden Age of Greece, from the enigmas of the mind-body problem to the origins of life on Earth, from free will to the problem of evil, and from the invention of spectacles to the Monty Hall Problem and the Voynich Manuscript, this compelling collection explores diverse realms of knowledge, offering possible answers that inspire contemplation and ignite the joy of intellectual discovery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jan 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9781685622138

Michael H. Hart

Michael H. Hart (born 1932) is an American author. Among his books are, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (1978; revised edition: 1992), A View from the Year 3000 (1999), and Understanding Human History (2007). He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from Princeton University. He also has degrees in law, computer science, and physics. Dr. Hart is married and has two children.

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About the Author

Michael H. Hart (born 1932) is an American author. Among his books are, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (1978; revised edition: 1992), A View from the Year 3000 (1999), and Understanding Human History (2007).

He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from Princeton University. He also has degrees in law, computer science, and physics.

Dr. Hart is married and has two children.

Copyright Information ©

Michael H. Hart 2024

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Hart, Michael H.

Puzzles and Paradoxes

ISBN 9781685622114 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781685622121 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781685622138 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023918115

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

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Acknowledgment

I want to acknowledge my beloved wife, Merna S Hart, who assisted me in writing this book.

Introduction

This book presents a set of puzzling questions, together with some possible answers to them. Most of the questions are well known; all of them are interesting.

Some of the questions concern particular incidents, such as the mystery of the Mary Celeste. Some involve historical problems such as Why did the Roman Empire Fall? Some are questions concerning mathematics, some concern physics. Some of the questions concern biology such as Why don’t we see intermediate forms between species?

A few are widely discussed philosophical questions.

My proposed answers to the questions are merely suggestions. The reader may well disagree with them. I suspect, though, that most readers will find the questions very interesting.

A) Historical Questions

Chapter 1

Which Biblical Figures Were

Only Legendary?

Most fundamentalist Christians and most Orthodox Jews believe in the literal truth of the Bible. For these people, all the persons mentioned in the Bible were real people. However, most other people understand that many of the biblical figures—such as Adam and Eve, for example—are fictitious. How can we decide which biblical figures really existed and which are merely legendary figures?

The English writer, Lord Raglan, in his well-known book The Hero, provided one method of deciding.¹ Raglan considered a number of legendary heroes and found that their stories contain many similarities.² In chapter 16 of his book, he listed twenty-two biographical items that are very common in the tales of legendary heroes. They are as follows:

The hero’s mother is a royal virgin.

His father is a king, and

Often a near relative of his mother, but

The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and

He is also reputed to be the son of a god.

At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grandfather, to kill him, but

He is spirited away, and

Reared by foster-parents in a far country.

We are told nothing of his childhood, but

On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future kingdom.

After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,

He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor, and

Becomes king.

For a time he reigns uneventfully, and

Prescribes laws, but

Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and

Is driven from the throne and city, after which

He meets with a mysterious death,

Often at the top of a hill.

His children, if any, do not succeed him.

His body is not buried, but nevertheless

He has one or more holy sepulchers.

Among the legendary Greek figures that Raglan discussed are: Apollo, Asclepios, Dionysos, Hercules, Jason, Oedipus, Perseus, Theseus, and Zeus. None of them matches all twenty-two items on Raglan’s list, but each of them scores at least 11 points on the list. Their scores are as follows:

Apollo 11 points

Asclepios 12 points

Jason 15 points

Zeus 15 points

Hercules 17 points

Perseus 18 points

Dionysos 19 points

Theseus 20 points

Oedipus 21 points

Raglan also discussed various non-Greek heroes, including:

Siegfried 11 points

Robin Hood 13 points

Romulus 18 points

King Arthur 19 points

Moses 20 points

Now some of the items on Raglan’s list could apply to real persons. However, no undoubtedly real person scores more than 6 points—with the exception of Alexander the Great, who perhaps scores 7 points.

There is another test of whether an allegedly real person was actually legendary: If the biography of the allegedly real person contains miracles or supernatural events, then that person is probably legendary; if it does not, the person is probably real.

Using this criterion, Adam and Eve are obviously legendary figures. Abraham is also a legendary figure. Consider these points:

Abraham lives to the age of 175 (see Genesis, chapter 25, verse 7).

His wife, Sarah, gives birth to a child when she is over 90 years old (Genesis, chapter 21).

Abraham meets God personally

And he argues with God. (See Genesis, chapter 18, verses 23–32.)³

Moses is surely a legendary figure. Not only does he score 20 points on Raglan’s list, but his entire story is full of miraculous occurrences such as: the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, manna from heaven, the ten plagues, and so forth. The story of Moses in the bulrushes is similar to an Assyrian story concerning Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC)⁴. In addition, Moses lives to the age of 120. Aside from the story in the Book of Exodus, there is no other record of his life, nor any surviving artifacts.

Joshua is also a legendary figure. Consider these points:

In chapter 6 of the Book of Joshua, it is related that the Jews, merely by blowing horns and trumpets, destroyed the walls of Jericho.

In chapter 10 (verses 12 and 13) of the Book of Joshua, it is related that God caused the Sun to stand still in the heavens for a whole day so that the Jews would be able to kill the retreating Amorites, whom they had just defeated in a battle.

The Book of Joshua also says (in chapter 24) that Joshua lived to the age of 110—which although not completely impossible is certainly very unlikely.

In fact, all of the Biblical figures preceding Joshua appear to be legendary. King David and King Solomon, on the other hand, were real people; and their stories contain no miracles. So were Samuel and King Saul. The Maccabees were all real people, as were Ezra and Nehemiah.

The major Hebrew prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) were real people. Of the twelve ‘minor’ prophets who have books in the Bible (Jonah, Amos Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Joel, Obadiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) only the first one (Jonah) has a miracle told about him. Jonah is, therefore, probably legendary, and all the others are probably real persons.

The most interesting (and controversial) case is that of Jesus. Jesus scores 17 points on Raglan’s list, which strongly suggests that he was not a real person.⁵ In addition, the biography of Jesus contains many miraculous items (see, for example, the first few pages of The Gospel according to St. Matthew), and they are major elements in the story. For example:

His mother was a virgin.

His father was God.

After his death, he was resurrected.

He performed many miracles.

The entire story of the temptation of Christ (told in The Gospel according to St. Matthew, chapter 4, verses 1–11)

Furthermore, there are no contemporary Roman, Jewish, or Greek references to Jesus. Matthew, Mark, or Luke (the authors of the first three gospels) does not claim to have seen Jesus. Nor did St. Paul claim to have seen Jesus (before the crucifixion).

It is sometimes said that the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus mentions Jesus in his book, Antiquities of the Jews and that this provides a contemporary reference to Jesus. However, it is generally agreed that the passages in question are not authentic, but are interpolations made later by Christian writers. (The oldest surviving copies of Josephus’ work date from the eleventh century AD) However, even if they are authentic, they would still not constitute a contemporary reference, since Josephus wrote his book about 93 or 94 AD.—which is sixty years after the date of the crucifixion.⁶

The New Testament was written in Greek, probably by Jews who were greatly influenced by Greek culture, and much of the narrative is not compatible with Jewish beliefs. For example:

Jews believed that the Messiah would be a human being, not a God.

In Judaism (unlike Greek myths) God has no children, and he does not impregnate human females.

As the books of the prophets in the Old Testament (mentioned above) show, Jews did not normally ascribe miracles to itinerant prophets.

All in all, the evidence seems convincing to me that Jesus was merely a legendary figure.

---

The Hero (1936) by Fitzroy Richard Somerset, Baron Raglan.↩︎

A somewhat similar idea is found in The Myth of the Birth of the Hero (1959) by Otto Rank.↩︎

According to the Book of Genesis, when Sarah died Abraham needed a burial plot for her, and he purchased the cave of Machpelah (in Hebron) for that purpose. There exists in Hebron today an underground vault with six large caskets in it. A tradition dating back many centuries holds that this vault (called ‘the tomb of the patriarchs’) is the cave of Machpelah mentioned in Genesis, where Abraham, his son Isaac, his grandson Jacob, and three of their wives are buried. Most scholars agree that there are no longer any skeletons in the six caskets, and I think it very unlikely that it is the cave of Machpelah mentioned in the Bible.↩︎

However, it is unclear when the legend concerning Sargon’s birth was written down. It might have been written after Exodus, or perhaps both stories derive from an older legend.↩︎

See The Hero Pattern and the Life of Jesus (published 1976) by Alan Dundes.↩︎

It is also worth noting that there are several references in the Dead Sea scrolls (found in caves near Qumran, near the Dead Sea) to a figure that resembles Jesus. One of these is to a person called the ‘Son of God’. It appears in scroll 4Q246, which was written about 100 BC. Another reference is to a person called the ‘Teacher of Righteousness’, who lived in the first or second century BC. That reference occurs in a scroll called the Damascus Document. Both these references imply that there were stories of a Christ-like figure circulating at least a hundred years before Jesus. Of course, this does not prove that Jesus is a legendary figure, although it suggests it.↩︎

Chapter 2

Was There an Exodus from Egypt?

I) Introduction

The Old Testament (in the Book of Exodus) relates that the Jews were once slaves in the land of Egypt, but eventually escaped from slavery. For many centuries, Jews have each year celebrated their liberation in a dramatic ceremony called a Seder. However, it is unclear whether the Exodus ever really occurred.

II) The Biblical Story

According to the Bible, the Jews were slaves in Egypt for several centuries, until a great leader—Moses—arose and led them to freedom. The Book of Exodus says that, shortly before Moses was born, the Egyptian Pharaoh had issued a decree that all baby boys born to the Jews should be cast into the Nile River and drowned. However, when Moses was born, his mother first concealed him and then placed him in a small basket which she placed in the bulrushes on the banks of the river. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to wash herself in the river and saw the basket with the young baby in it. She rescued Moses and reared him as her own son.

When Moses was a young man, he saw an Egyptian beating a Jewish slave. Moses intervened and killed the Egyptian. Fearing Pharaoh’s wrath, Moses fled Egypt and went to the land of Midian. There he married a gentile woman, Zipporah, and she bore him a son.

Later, when Moses was in Midian, he saw a bush that was burning but, miraculously, was not consumed. Then God spoke to Moses from out of the burning bush. God said that He would rescue the Jews from slavery and bring them out of Egypt into Canaan. God also told Moses to return to Egypt, confront Pharaoh, and then lead the Jews out of Egypt.¹

Moses and his older brother Aaron indeed spoke to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh rejected their demands that he let the Jewish slaves go. So God brought a series of plagues on Egypt (the Ten Plagues). Nine plagues failed to persuade Pharaoh to let the Jews go. However, the tenth plague—the death of the firstborn child in every family in Egypt—broke Pharaoh’s will.

According to the account in Exodus, God had the ‘Angel of Death’ kill all the firstborn children. However, God had warned the Jews beforehand, and He had said that each Jewish family should kill a lamb the night before and smear the lamb’s blood on their door so that the Angel of Death would pass over the houses of the Jews and not kill their firstborn children. The Jews did so and they were spared.

After the slaying of the firstborn Egyptians, Pharaoh told Moses to lead the Jews out of Egypt. The Jews left promptly, but Pharaoh soon changed his mind and sent an army with horses and chariots after them. The Jews reached the Red Sea, where they appeared to be trapped. However, God caused a strong wind to arise which caused the waters of the Red Sea to part, enabling the Jews to pass through on dry land. When Pharaoh’s army tried to follow them into the gap, the wind ceased and the waters of the Red Sea rushed back in and the Egyptian chariots and horsemen were all drowned.

After escaping from Egypt, the Jews wandered for forty years in the Sinai peninsula (most of which is a desert) before finally reaching