|
|
 Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:49 am Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
In fact I don't see any other possibilities, except for "exist", either  |
|
Lost_Soul
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1859
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
|
|
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:25 am Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
| Ahmadov wrote: | | Yankee wrote: | | Did you by any chance pick 'exist'? |
No, I did not and that is not the right answer. |
But that answer IS right, whether or not it's the answer intended by the person who cooked up the puzzle.
Now this reminds me of the movie about Casper Hauser, the man they found in a town square in Germany, who had been kept isolated from infancy to adulthood, and who had not learned to talk yet. (He was a real person, and he was really found that way.) After he'd learned to talk, philosophers wanted to interview him and test their theories about the mind of a man who was untouched by human society. There's one scene where a philosopher poses Casper this conundrum:
| Quote: | | There are two towns, one whose inhabitants always lie, and one whose inhabitants always tell the truth. You meet a person on the road, and you want to know which town he is from. What question do you ask him to find out if he's from the liars' town or the truth-tellers' town? |
Casper told the philosopher that he would ask the person if he was a tree frog. If the person said "yes", then he was obviously from the liar's town, because he was clearly not a tree frog.
This is a perfectly functional solution to such a problem, but the philosopher was quite upset with it, calling it "completely unacceptable" on philosophical grounds. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4401
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
 |
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 13:33 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
Hi, Jamie
I think I understand why the philosopher rejected that lad's solution to the riddle. What if the population of the said towns consist only of tree frogs? Or, more probably, it is part of their religious beliefs to call themselves "tree frogs" It was not stated in the conundrum that they are NOT tree frogs !
Actually, I can't see the solution. Probably it does not exist. But it gives one a bone to chew on, figuratively speaking. |
|
Lost_Soul
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1859
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
|
|
|
Ahmadov
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Azerbaijan
|
|
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 13:39 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
Hello Jamie,
Then I think I was also correct when I said the right answer was "growth" because it did not contain the letter "e"  |
|
Ahmadov
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Azerbaijan
|
|
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 13:56 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
| Ahmadov wrote: | Hello Jamie,
Then I think I was also correct when I said the right answer was "growth" because it did not contain the letter "e" |
Yes. There's more than one correct answer. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4401
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 13:59 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
| Jamie (K) wrote: | | Quote: | | There are two towns, one whose inhabitants always lie, and one whose inhabitants always tell the truth. You meet a person on the road, and you want to know which town he is from. What question do you ask him to find out if he's from the liars' town or the truth-tellers' town? |
Casper told the philosopher that he would ask the person if he was a tree frog. If the person said "yes", then he was obviously from the liar's town, because he was clearly not a tree frog.
This is a perfectly functional solution to such a problem, but the philosopher was quite upset with it, calling it "completely unacceptable" on philosophical grounds. |
I wonder what was the philosopher's answer...
_________________
Learning is a sacred engagement. |
|
Ahmadov
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Azerbaijan
|
|
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 14:03 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
| Ahmadov wrote: | | I wonder what was the philosopher's answer... |
He didn't give an answer. He just said that Caspar Hauser's answer was unacceptable. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4401
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 14:04 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
| Jamie (K) wrote: | | Ahmadov wrote: | | I wonder what was the philosopher's answer... |
He didn't give an answer. He just said that Caspar Hauser's answer was unacceptable. |
I would consider him a true philosopher if he had given his version 
_________________
Learning is a sacred engagement. |
|
Ahmadov
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Azerbaijan
|
|
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 14:16 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
Hi, Ahmadov
I bet it is a question from one of those IQ tests, where you don't need to know the meaning of words to solve puzzles. But that premise was not stipulated by you, hense "exit" is also an answer |
|
Lost_Soul
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1859
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
|
|
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 14:17 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
| Ahmadov wrote: | | Jamie (K) wrote: | | Ahmadov wrote: | | I wonder what was the philosopher's answer... |
He didn't give an answer. He just said that Caspar Hauser's answer was unacceptable. |
I would consider him a true philosopher if he had given his version |
No, a true philosopher doesn't give any workable solutions.
Think of Karl Marx and his bad relations with the real workers who were in the communist party in England. The workers would propose serious, practical, real solutions that would improve their lives, and Marx used to criticize them angrily and say that the workers' plan was "bound to fail" because it had "no underlying philosophical principles". |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4401
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| Tue Mar 04, 2008 14:26 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
| Jamie (K), it seems the definition of a true philosopher is another thing that we do not agree on |
|
Ahmadov
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Azerbaijan
|
|
| Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:53 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
OK, now the correct solution for the puzzle I posted earlier this week:
The answer is "Center", which is the only word that does NOT contain the reversed letters of a number.
1. evENINg = (rev) NINE
2. grOWTh = (rev) TWO
3. center = no embedded reversable number!
4. eXISt = (rev) SIX
5. magNET = (rev) TEN
6. vENOm = (rev) ONE |
|
Ahmadov
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Azerbaijan
|
|
| Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:54 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
|
|
| Now, my question about the Einstein quote was that whether the solution offered by me or Amy was simplified or oversimplified? |
|
Ahmadov
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 295
Location: Azerbaijan
|
|
|
| How would you describe your nationality? | German authorities turning a blind eye on illegal CD sales? |
