Re: Riddles (was: Lateral Thinking)

From: Jason Joel Thompson (jasonjthompson@home.com)
Date: Sat Jan 06 2001 - 21:52:31 MST


----- Original Message -----
From: "Damien Broderick" <d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au>

> At 12:05 PM 6/01/01 -0500, Eliezer wrote:
>
> >> of is ... well, it's just dumb -- you had two keys to one of the
boxes?
>
> >Of course. How else would I get two locked boxes each containing the
> >other's key in the first place?
>
> This is a *flabbergastingly* uninteresting `solution'. Why not just say
you
> used a teleport machine? Why not say that the keys were tailored paramecia
> (one older than the other) that oozed this way and that? Why not say both
> locks opened with the same key?

Answering (good) riddles employs a skill different from that of solving
problems. A wise solver wins by discovering the genuis of the riddle,
rather than exploiting its flaws. (Hey, you didn't say the boxes were
invincible now, did you?-- I open the first with a blow torch.)

Blech.

 Several other proffered solutions
> (including both of mine) strike me as far truer to the spirit of the
puzzle
> than this fudge.

I didn't get these Damien, can you repost?

--

::jason.joel.thompson ::founder

::wild.ghost.studios | www.wildghost.com ::kung.fu.blue



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