[Action/Video] Shot in the Dark log/ A test of reason. Or psychopathy

[youfool]

Action, Closed - Shot in the Dark



[Two weeks have gone by, which means it's time to catch killers once again. A bandit this time; likely a highwayman. Which means he's probably got his eye on trade routes in and out of the city to rob unsuspecting people with currency in their keep.

Which means Ted's there too, threads on every road as he checks into all of them like security cameras. He's hanging out in the epicenter of all these watchful black tendrils, ready to swat any suspicious arrows should they come flying into the breast of the innocent. And he has a few vials of antitoxin too, should they broach his precautions.

All he had to do was play his least favorite past-time: the waiting game. He's grown calloused and bored enough as of late that he finds himself almost praying the criminal outs himself soon. He's got stuff to do! Well, so long as no blonde, innocent children show up to give him a heart attack, all would be well...]

Video, Open - Crazy cards

Let's play a game; a test of your reason. Look at these cards. Each one has a color on one side, and an alphanumeric character on the other.



Here's a rule: If it has blue on one side, it will have "5" on the other. How many cards--the fewest possible--must you turn over to check whether the rule holds fast? Which ones?

Don't worry if you get it wrong; I'll give you another, simpler question to answer. If you fail that, the worst that'll happen is being dubbed a psychopath.

Comments

[youfool]

It wouldn't, for I don't think you understood the question. As it stands I only partially understand your answers.

[om_nom_namur]

So cuz we ain't swimmin' the same brain currents it don't tell y' nothin'?

Seems like a shitty test.

[youfool]

It tells me that you perhaps struggle with formal logic.

[om_nom_namur]

Well I do tell folk I'm a dumbass for a reason...

[youfool]

[Part of him wants to be hands-off, because getting close just about always entails vain suffering. And yet...]

I don't think that's true. You're not, granted, very literate, but that's not the same as unintelligent. It merely means that part's been poorly nourished. There hasn't been much I couldn't explain to you, given time.

I could do that here, if you like.

[om_nom_namur]

Jus' 'xplain the damn cards thing.

[youfool]

To do that I'd have to go over assumptions, propositions, premises, and so on. There'd be much to cover.

[om_nom_namur]

Well get yawpin'. Got my dictionary handy, an' a girlfriend a hair smarter'n me, least where shit like books is concerned.

[youfool]

[Darn, he thought the subject of incoming boredom would scare him.]

OK. The rules you had to check, like "If it's blue on one side, it's 5 on the other" and "if you borrow the sweater, you must return it" can be simply put in the form

"If 'p', then 'q'"

You could make your own examples, like: "If I shoot you, then your brains will be blown out."

The point is not to get hung up on the specific rule, or proposition. This is about the form, or the p's and q's. If the premise is accepted that the logic works that way, then we can figure whether it applies.

Let's go back to the first set.



Remember: If blue, then 5. That is the basic proposition we assume for the purpose. Knowing that, which cards would you have to check to see whether that applies?

[om_nom_namur]

All a 'em cuz maybe they put a five on the purple, or put blue on the G. An' y' gotta make sure there ain't a three on the one that's blue, or purple on the one that's five. So y' can't say 's a rule an' not check 'em all, cuz maybe it ain't the rule. Maybe someone decided t' make their own rules, so then y' gotta learn them rules, catch me?

[youfool]

For the purpose of the game, we're assuming the rule and testing to see whether there are contradictions. Anything more than that is an unnecessary complication.

So, let's work through it one at a time. Why would seeing whether the third card, the 5, had purple on the back prove or disprove the rule that states all blues have fives?

[om_nom_namur]

Cuz if 's got...

Ohhhh. Cuz maybe fives can have differnt colors but blues is only gonna be fives. So the five don't matter.

An' the purple'n don't matter either cuz even if 's got a five 's okay, so long as the blues has only got fives, aye?

So then y' jus' gotta check the blue, t' make sure 's got a five on it, an' the G, t' make sure it's got some other color.

So the answer's two.

[youfool]

Well done. Let's see if you can do it twice.



The rule this time is "All who borrow sweaters must return them." Which cards must you check?

[om_nom_namur]

Still gotta flip Tina cuz y' gotta see how shit went with her, if she brought it back or not. Cassie don't matter cuz she didn't borrow a sweater. Already know Jen brought it back an' Mary di-

Ohhhh shit. Looks like that ain't a rule cuz Mary done mucked all the shit up. Ain't gotta flip any, cuz the rule got broke already, so it don't hold up.

..... Final answer.

[youfool]

[So close, yet so far]

How did Mary muck things up?

[om_nom_namur]

By not bringin' it back. So the rule if y' borrow a sweater y' gotta bring it back don't hold up cuz the cards says otherwise. Cuz the rule if y' borrow my sweater an' don't bring it back I'mma whoop yer ass 's a differnt rule.

[youfool]

I see. Based on the wording, you've assumed Mary borrowed the sweater like Tina. Note that it doesn't say that on the card.

[om_nom_namur]

Aw, shit! 'S the damn thing I's talkin' 'bout with the blues!

Okay so y' gotta flip...

Shit.

I'unno, which ones y' gotta flip now? Ugh, that's what yer askin' me. 'Kay, hang on.

Gotta flip Tina's then cuz y' know she borrowed a sweater. Still don't give a shit 'bout Cassie. An' Jen's okay cuz she returned it an' y' can't return shit y' don't borrow, aye?

So but y' do gotta flip Mary cuz maybe she didn't borrow nothin' either. So two.

[youfool]

There you go; excellent. Yes, strange as it sounds, it's true to say that one has not returned what one hasn't borrowed.

That's the other lesson of the game; that when you have a rule stating "all p's are q's", it works in reverse too: "all not q's are not p's."

[om_nom_namur]

An' that's the whole damn thing?

[youfool]

Yes, essentially.

[om_nom_namur]

Well that weren't so bad.

[youfool]

Thank goodness reason is not too trying.

[om_nom_namur]

Didn't even need the shitty dictionary!

So why y' jus' textin' shit? Didja do somethin' t' yer face?

[youfool]

[To hide his emotions, of course. Better safe than sorry.]

I can't stress reading's importance enough.