Deep\Interesting Questions

Both. @Erestor Arcamen. Or neither.

If you TRY to fail, and succeed anyway, you failed at your attempt to fail. However, you succeeded at what the real target or objective was, you were trying to fail to get to.

Or differently, dissecting your first phrase, what did you 'succeed' at? (this makes all the difference - i.e. where ones focus is.)

If you try to fail and succeed at your attempt to fail, then you have succeeded. If you try to fail, and fail to fail, but succeed in the objective you hoped to fail at anyway, then you have failed at your attempt to fail.

(I fear @Alexander Scamilton may not approve of this response.)

Ent said:

If you try to fail and succeed at your attempt to fail, then you have succeeded. If you try to fail, and fail to fail, but succeed in the objective you hoped to fail at anyway, then you have failed at your attempt to fail.

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Thanks, now I need more coffee 😵‍💫

Erestor Arcamen said:

If you try to fail and succeed, did you fail or succeed?

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I fail to understand the question.

Erestor Arcamen said:

If you try to fail and succeed, did you fail or succeed?

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The object (end) of your efforts was to fail at something...[<whatever>] so if you did, in fact fail, that is, if your efforts culminated in obtaining your ends, which in this case was "failure" , you were successful. So to answer your question, "you succeeded."

Does water taste like water, or does water taste like nothing?
(Assuming the water is pure H20, without any flavorings or minerals).

Erestor Arcamen said:

If you try to fail and succeed, did you fail or succeed?

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Ahhhh, I just now saw the paradox.........
The answer to this hinges on how you are using the verb "succeed".
Rewording the w question to make it clear what is being asked: "If you try to fail and succeed" at what? If "succeed at failing" , at failing being understood but not actually spelled out then you have succeeded. Which was my first answer because I read the question as I have just explained.

The alternate way of understanding the question: "If you try to fail <at something not here specified> and succeed" at that same thing instead, then you have failed.

So the answer can go either way depending on the indirect object of the intransitive verb succeed.
In the first case the indirect object (or phrase is) "at failing"....succeed at failing <whatever>
IN the second case it's "succeed at [doing] something [else] " which you tried to fail at , then you did indeed fail.
So the paradox results from a poorly stated question.

Idril Celebrindal said:

Does water taste like water, or does water taste like nothing?
(Assuming the water is pure H20, without any flavorings or minerals).

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If you drink a liquid and your brain identifies it as water, then "water" does have a characteristic taste that is not "nothing".
What you are drinking my in fact not be water, but you brain has still identified it as water from your prior experience of drinking water.
So water does indeed have a taste.

Deimos said:

If you drink a liquid and your brain identifies it as water, then "water" does have a characteristic taste that is not "nothing".
What you are drinking my in fact not be water, but you brain has still identified it as water from your prior experience of drinking water.
So water does indeed have a taste.

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But then, if I tasted a liquid that tasted like nothing, would I think it was water? If I felt wetness in my mouth but no taste?

Idk if there's a safe way to test that. Because all water has some sort of flavoring from minerals. Except for pure H2O), and I'm not sure if you're supposed to drink that.

Idril Celebrindal said:

But then, if I tasted a liquid that tasted like nothing, would I think it was water? If I felt wetness in my mouth but no taste?

Idk if there's a safe way to test that. Because all water has some sort of flavoring from minerals. Except for pure H2O), and I'm not sure if you're supposed to drink that.

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If you had a liquid in your mouth and it registered no taste at all in your brain, your brain would still know it's not water that is in your mouth.
Pure H20 is distilled water aka rainwater. When you were a kid did you never tillt your head back to catch the rain in your mouth?
Distilled water/rain water DOES have a taste; it tastes "flat", like it needs salt. Seriously. Your comment about regular water having minerals giving water its taste is exactly why "Pure H2O"/distilled water/rainwater tastes flat. Salt is a mineral and is present in very low amounts in municipal drinking water.
Salt is not the only mineral that gives water it's taste, but it is one of them.

Ent said:

Both. @Erestor Arcamen. Or neither.

If you TRY to fail, and succeed anyway, you failed at your attempt to fail. However, you succeeded at what the real target or objective was, you were trying to fail to get to.

Or differently, dissecting your first phrase, what did you 'succeed' at? (this makes all the difference - i.e. where ones focus is.)

If you try to fail and succeed at your attempt to fail, then you have succeeded. If you try to fail, and fail to fail, but succeed in the objective you hoped to fail at anyway, then you have failed at your attempt to fail.

(I fear @Alexander Scamilton may not approve of this response.)

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bold of u to assume i understood the question 💀

Idril Celebrindal said:

Does water taste like water, or does water taste like nothing?
(Assuming the water is pure H20, without any flavorings or minerals).

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I think it tastes like nothing. Or maybe not. idk.

Deimos said:

If you had a liquid in your mouth and it registered no taste at all in your brain, your brain would still know it's not water that is in your mouth.
Pure H20 is distilled water aka rainwater. When you were a kid did you never tillt your head back to catch the rain in your mouth?
Distilled water/rain water DOES have a taste; it tastes "flat", like it needs salt. Seriously. Your comment about regular water having minerals giving water its taste is exactly why "Pure H2O"/distilled water/rainwater tastes flat. Salt is a mineral and is present in very low amounts in municipal drinking water.
Salt is not the only mineral that gives water it's taste, but it is one of them.

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Nerd.

Idril Celebrindal said:

Does water taste like water, or does water taste like nothing?
(Assuming the water is pure H20, without any flavorings or minerals).

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There is no water on the entire earth that is pure H2O so I don't think you could know!
I heard of this guy sometime ago - https://www.martin-riese.com/ - maybe you would find it interesting.

Erurávennë said:

There is no water on the entire earth that is pure H2O so I don't think you could know!
I heard of this guy sometime ago - https://www.martin-riese.com/ - maybe you would find it interesting.

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Rainwater comes close, tho'.

The purest water in the world is Optima Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry-grade water. LCMS-grade water is used in the laboratory for toxicology testing, among other things. Even regular distilled water found in typical bottles at a laboratory is not good enough for such. Rainwater is not distilled in the actual definition of the word and could never be in an always-contaminating atmosphere. Air already pollutes rainwater as it is, no matter how "clean" the air is. Rainwater might be less mineral-heavy and cleaner than most water, but it is by no means distilled.

Glorfindel Goldtress said:

The purest water in the world is Optima Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry-grade water. LCMS-grade water is used in the laboratory for toxicology testing, among other things. Even regular distilled water found in typical bottles at a laboratory is not good enough for such. Rainwater is not distilled in the actual definition of the word and could never be in an always-contaminating atmosphere. Air already pollutes rainwater as it is, no matter how "clean" the air is. Rainwater might be less mineral-heavy and cleaner than most water, but it is by no means distilled.

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I knew rainwater wasn't 100% pure...don't raindrops typically form around dust particles?

Idril Celebrindal said:

Does water taste like water, or does water taste like nothing?
(Assuming the water is pure H20, without any flavorings or minerals).

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I think that water definitely tastes like water, and that all waters have different tastes.

Elwing the White said:

I think that water definitely tastes like water, and that all waters have different tastes.

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I'm just wondering... If all waters have different tastes, then does water have any one specific taste? I.e. if some water tastes like more like iron, and a different water tastes more like gold (idk just random examples), then are we just tasting the metals in the water rather than the actual water?

I mean, yeah, kind of and not at all. If you drink water with a certain amount of metals (less gold and more likely Potassium, sodium, Magnesium) dissolved in it, you can taste them. Here in Germany, you can taste the difference between drinking water from mountainous regions (typically few metals dissolved) and low-lying regions, especially bigger cities (which usually have a significantly higher concentration of metals dissolved). But it is important to note, that dissolved potassium for example doesn't taste the same as pure potassium as its chemical composition already is slightly different since it's becoming ionic. Btw, please don't eat pure potassium, there may be a fire or explosion in your mouth/stomach. The taste of the combined chemicals isn't the same as the sum of the taste of the individual chemicals.

Also, humans will never taste "pure water". Even if we could manage to make 100% pure H2O or use whatever comes close to it, the moment the bottle is opened, it will start reacting with the air and when it hits your tongue it will draw whatever chemicals there are in your saliva into it, making it not pure any more. Our "testing apparatus" isn't able to perform this experiment. Since the answer to your question is completely reliant on this sensor in your mouth, there will never be a sufficient answer to the question. And even if it would be, how would we communicate the result? There is no definitive and infinitely precise way to describe taste. I can describe a steak to you as savoury but if you think about how a steak tastes in your mouth, how much of this information is conveyed within this adjective? How many more would you need to describe it fully? How can you be sure, that the person you are telling this to is interpreting these terms in the same way you are? This isn't a question of chemistry or biology but epistemology.

Idril Celebrindal said:

If all waters have different tastes, then does water have any one specific taste?

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As all liquids, waters do have different tastes, Just as do all red and white wines, orange, grape and apple juices, or any other product in a liquid form.

They contain differing composition, thus different results.

Even water in the same stream can have different tastes. Certainly the headwater of a stream, not yet having picked up too much impurity yet, will taste different than further downstream. In such a case, even the SAME drop of water would taste different at the headwater, than at the outlet to the sea.

When Ent was in the military (a few decades ago) stationed on Yerba Buena Island, there was only ONE restaurant whose water Ent would drink. It got to the point where when they saw him coming, they prepared a pitcher to set on his table.

San Francisco in those years had the most intolerable water.... Ent is not sure if it has improved.

Idril Celebrindal said:

I'm just wondering... If all waters have different tastes, then does water have any one specific taste? I.e. if some water tastes like more like iron, and a different water tastes more like gold (idk just random examples), then are we just tasting the metals in the water rather than the actual water?

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Idk. I've never tasted pure water. Maybe the tastes are the combination of the metals and the water?

Water tastes like nothing. It tastes like water. With chemicals. And you all are living in an illusion. Since other ppl say water has taste, your brains start thinking water has taste when it actually doesn't.