evan@petfe.UUCP (Evan Marcus) (04/13/85)
An inconsistency in a particular episode that has always bothered me goes
back to "I, Mudd", the one with Norman and the 300,000 Androids.
One of the gems of logic that the gang uses to overwhelm the Androids is:
Kirk: "Everything Harry Mudd tells you is a lie."
Mudd: "Norman, I am lying now."
This blows Norman away! It seems to me that the flaw in the logic is what
if Kirk is lying?
Comments?
(be kind--this is my first effort)
--Evan Marcus
...{decvax|ucbvax}!vax135!petsd!pedsgd!pedsga!evan
"There are two kinds of people in this world, those who divide people into two
kinds, and those who don't."raskin@yale.ARPA (Andy Raskin) (04/16/85)
>One of the gems of logic that the gang uses to overwhelm the Androids is: > > Kirk: "Everything Harry Mudd tells you is a lie." > Mudd: "Norman, I am lying now." > > This blows Norman away! It seems to me that the flaw in the logic is what > if Kirk is lying? It doesn't matter. In fact, Kirk is totally irrelevant to the logic. Once Mudd states that he is lying, the circle begins (and Norm blows a fuse). This is clearer if we just change Mudd's statement to "What I am now saying is a lie." The whole idea is silly, since it involves playing on language, not logic, but I guess Norman isn't smart enough to figure it out. Andy Raskin ..decvax!yale!raskin "STIV:In Search of Plot..."
ccrdave@ucdavis.UUCP (Lord Kahless) (04/19/85)
> >One of the gems of logic that the gang uses to overwhelm the Androids is: > > > > Kirk: "Everything Harry Mudd tells you is a lie." > > Mudd: "Norman, I am lying now." > > > > This blows Norman away! It seems to me that the flaw in the logic is what > > if Kirk is lying? > > It doesn't matter. In fact, Kirk is totally irrelevant to the logic. Once > Mudd states that he is lying, the circle begins (and Norm blows a fuse). > > This is clearer if we just change Mudd's statement to "What I am now saying is > a lie." The whole idea is silly, since it involves playing on language, not > logic, but I guess Norman isn't smart enough to figure it out. > > > Andy Raskin > ..decvax!yale!raskin > > "STIV:In Search of Plot..." Kirk and Mudd's argument is a classic example of a question in true/ false format that has neither true nor false. For references, see "A Transition to Advanced Mathematics", by Smith, Eggen, and St. Andre, (Brooks/Cole, Belmont, CA, first edition) page 1. Lord Kahless Founder of the Klingon Empire Now studying at U.C. Davis
m1b@rayssd.UUCP (04/24/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** >>One of the gems of logic that the gang uses to overwhelm the Androids is: >> >> Kirk: "Everything Harry Mudd tells you is a lie." >> Mudd: "Norman, I am lying now." >> >> This blows Norman away! It seems to me that the flaw in the logic is what >> if Kirk is lying? > > It doesn't matter. In fact, Kirk is totally irrelevant to the logic. Once > Mudd states that he is lying, the circle begins (and Norm blows a fuse). > > This is clearer if we just change Mudd's statement to "What I am now saying is > a lie." The whole idea is silly, since it involves playing on language, not > logic, but I guess Norman isn't smart enough to figure it out. > Wouldn't this type of logic merely cause some type of trap exception. Norman should have just core dumped (this could have been really messy!) if he didn't have the proper exception handler routine. If Norman is all that sophisticated, he should have just ignored the statements! :-) (If you program an Atari 400 to divide by zero, you just get an error -- it doesn't power down! I hope Norman has more than a 6502 as a brain!) Double :-) Joe Barone, {allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, ccice5}!rayssd!m1b Raytheon Co, Submarine Signal Div., Box 330, Portsmouth, RI 02871