adm@cbneb.UUCP (09/25/84)
More on Dot Town. **** SPOILER ****
There are at least two more assumptions being made for
the proposed solution to be correct.
1) The BLUES will not suicide unless...
"Every in Dot Town knows that
every in Dot Town knows that
every in Dot Town knows that
... (N-2 times)
every in Dot Town knows that
someone in Dot Town suicides if he knows the color of his dot."
2) The REDS will not suicide unless...
2.1) "Every RED in Dot Town knows that the only possible
reason for suicide is knowing one's own dot color."
-OR-
2.2) "The Dot Townians use a probalistic logic."
A brief explanation...
1) Consider that the suicide connection to knowing dot color is a
totally unconsidered unknown automatic reaction. Then the
problem only works if N (# of blues) = 1.
Now consider the situation where everyone is aware of the
suicide connection, but nobody knows if anyone else knows it.
Then the problem only works with N = 2 (or 1).
etc, etc, etc.
2) Consider the extreme case where there is only one red. After
all the blues suicide, he will think, "Gee it sure seems likely
that I am the only red, however it is possible that all the
blues I saw suicided for some other reasons, so I just might
be a blue too. Guess I'll live."