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todayiamadaisyI've got exams this week; one Thursday and one Friday, and then I've got over a month off. I'm also off the radio roster for June, so for the next six weeks I'll have two to two-and-a-half days spare (depending on how well my audit preparations at work are going) each week. Whatever will I do with all this free time?
I bought a book of logic problems today, reasoning that it might fill a lazy afternoon or two. So why don't we have a look at it now?
The Governor of Hispaniola was held captive by pirate Captain Blackbeard.
"Now, Governor," said Blackbeard, "if you tell the truth, we'll hang you from the yardarm. If you lie, you'll walk the plank."
What could the governor say to save himself?
Answer
The Governor will say, "You'll make me walk the plank."
If they do, he told the truth. If they hang him, he lied.
They had to let him go.
Oh, did they? Did they really?
I would love to see the end of that conversation, where Blackbeard works it through: "We'll make you walk the plank, eh? That's exactly what we'll do then! No, wait, that would mean you told the truth and so we'd have to hang you! But that would mean you lied, so you'd have to walk the plank... well, bless my soul, I do believe you've tricked us. Best let him go, chaps!"
That's not going to happen, is it? I mean, I see why the answer is what it is. I just don't think you can apply rules of logic to an essentially irrational situation like that. Do bloodthirsty pirates really care that much about the niceties of logic problems? Wouldn't they be more likely to call his bluff and stab him instead?
It's for this very reason that I've always loved that bit in The Princess Bride where Vizzini argues himself into knots about which glass has the poison in it, only to get it wrong because he's applying logic puzzle rules to someone who is (horrible term) thinking outside the box.
I bought a book of logic problems today, reasoning that it might fill a lazy afternoon or two. So why don't we have a look at it now?
The Governor of Hispaniola was held captive by pirate Captain Blackbeard.
"Now, Governor," said Blackbeard, "if you tell the truth, we'll hang you from the yardarm. If you lie, you'll walk the plank."
What could the governor say to save himself?
Answer
The Governor will say, "You'll make me walk the plank."
If they do, he told the truth. If they hang him, he lied.
They had to let him go.
Oh, did they? Did they really?
I would love to see the end of that conversation, where Blackbeard works it through: "We'll make you walk the plank, eh? That's exactly what we'll do then! No, wait, that would mean you told the truth and so we'd have to hang you! But that would mean you lied, so you'd have to walk the plank... well, bless my soul, I do believe you've tricked us. Best let him go, chaps!"
That's not going to happen, is it? I mean, I see why the answer is what it is. I just don't think you can apply rules of logic to an essentially irrational situation like that. Do bloodthirsty pirates really care that much about the niceties of logic problems? Wouldn't they be more likely to call his bluff and stab him instead?
It's for this very reason that I've always loved that bit in The Princess Bride where Vizzini argues himself into knots about which glass has the poison in it, only to get it wrong because he's applying logic puzzle rules to someone who is (horrible term) thinking outside the box.
