3. The Joke Was on Me
A fellow graduate student of mine at the University of Chicago had two brothers, aged six and eight. I was a frequent visitor to their house and often did tricks for the children. One day 1 came and said, "1 have a trick in which I could turn you both into lions." To my surprise, one of them said, "Okay, turn us into lions." 1 replied, "Well, uh, really, uh, I shouldn't do that, because there is no way 1 could tum you back again." The little one said, "I don't care; 1 want you to tum us into lions anyway." 1 replied, "No, really, there's no way1 can tum you back." The older one shouted, "I want you to turn us into lions!" The little one then asked, "How do you tum us into lions?" I replied, "By saying the magic words." One ofthem asked, "What are the magic words?" 1 replied, "If I told you the magic words, I would be saying them, and so you would tum into lions." They thought about this for a while, and then one of them asked, " Aren't there any magic words which would bring us back?" 1 replied: "Yes, there are, but the trouble is this. If I said the first magic words, then not only you two but every body in the world-including myself-would tum into a lion. And lions can't talk, so there would be no one left to say the other magic words to bring us back." The older one then said, "Write them down!" The little one said, "But I can't read!" I replied, "No, no, writing them down is out of the question; even if they were written down rather than said, everyone in the world would still turn into a lion." They said, "Oh."
About a week later I met the eight-year-old, and he said, " Smullyan, there' s something I've been wanting to ask you; something which has been puzzling me." I replied, "Yes?" He said. "How did you ever learn the magic words?"
This is another one of Smullyan's riddles, and I wanted to point this one out because if you think about it several times, you realize that you don't really know what magic words he's talking about, the ones to turn people into lions or the one to turn them back.
Anyway. Cool puzzle.
A fellow graduate student of mine at the University of Chicago had two brothers, aged six and eight. I was a frequent visitor to their house and often did tricks for the children. One day 1 came and said, "1 have a trick in which I could turn you both into lions." To my surprise, one of them said, "Okay, turn us into lions." 1 replied, "Well, uh, really, uh, I shouldn't do that, because there is no way 1 could tum you back again." The little one said, "I don't care; 1 want you to tum us into lions anyway." 1 replied, "No, really, there's no way1 can tum you back." The older one shouted, "I want you to turn us into lions!" The little one then asked, "How do you tum us into lions?" I replied, "By saying the magic words." One ofthem asked, "What are the magic words?" 1 replied, "If I told you the magic words, I would be saying them, and so you would tum into lions." They thought about this for a while, and then one of them asked, " Aren't there any magic words which would bring us back?" 1 replied: "Yes, there are, but the trouble is this. If I said the first magic words, then not only you two but every body in the world-including myself-would tum into a lion. And lions can't talk, so there would be no one left to say the other magic words to bring us back." The older one then said, "Write them down!" The little one said, "But I can't read!" I replied, "No, no, writing them down is out of the question; even if they were written down rather than said, everyone in the world would still turn into a lion." They said, "Oh."
About a week later I met the eight-year-old, and he said, " Smullyan, there' s something I've been wanting to ask you; something which has been puzzling me." I replied, "Yes?" He said. "How did you ever learn the magic words?"
This is another one of Smullyan's riddles, and I wanted to point this one out because if you think about it several times, you realize that you don't really know what magic words he's talking about, the ones to turn people into lions or the one to turn them back.
Anyway. Cool puzzle.
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