Your preparation for watching a UFC event may not typically involve reading ancient Chinese philosophical texts, but the crux of this weekend’s main event can be traced all the way back to a third-century book entitled the Han Feizi.
In it, Han Fei wrote of the ‘spear and shield paradox’, of what happens when a spear that can pierce any shield encounters a shield that can withstand any spear. In centuries since, the paradox has been framed as such: What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?
