Riddle Me This...
May 13, 2005

I am soooooooooo not good at solving riddles and paradoxes. That was one thing we had to do on our logic final today. I suppose I could have looked the answers up on the net but that felt like cheating, and besides, I have this intense desire to solve them for myself. It's almost anal LOL, kind of like how, when I play an RPG I don't want anyone else playing my game, not even for random insignificant battles and especially not for puzzles (I'm actually good at solving puzzles on RPGs lol, in fact, I've had many people get stuck and ask for my help, I take one look at it, walk around for a few minutes and solve what they'd been trying to do for months--once even half a year, they're kind of like riddles only, they're easier to visualize I guess).

What I'm really good at, I think, is complicating riddles and paradoxes, even when presented with "the answer." Is that a useful thing to be good at? Shadowing sure things with doubt, even my own answers? *laughs*

So what was the riddle in question? It was the "Let's Make a Deal" riddle. 2 guards stand in front of a door (each one stands in front of a separate door that is) and one guards a monster behind the door, the other guards a treasure. One guard always lies and the other always tells the truth. You are allowed one question that will tell you which door to get to the prize.

I came close to my instructor's answer when I sat there thinking you should ask "which door would he (point to other guard) choose?" but discovered that they would both say themselves and I would get nowhere. Finally, I came up with an either or solution. Is there a giraffe or a monster behind your door (Didn't know I wasn't allowed either or questions)? If they both had to answer one or the other, I explained, the liar would have an easy time saying giraffe (because his truth is in the choices and so is a lie), however, the truthful person would be unable to answer at all because neither is true.

Now, I can even deconstruct and complicate my own answer. First of all, if the truth person is able to say nothing at all, what keeps the liar from saying neither? Why does he have to choose either or? The rules have an unstated assumption that the guards have to answer a particular way as a result of their lies and truth, but how they lie and tell the truth is not necessarily decided. Likewise, faced with two falsities, if the truthful guard had to answer, he could decide on the giraffe OR the monster under the excuse that he had to choose one and with the money behind the door you could afford a giraffe or a monster (unstated assumption in the riddle is that monsters exist, otherwise there wouldn't be one to kill you waiting behind the door). If the truthful guard was interested in helping you, he would naturally say a monster because he would hope you followed his logic and ultimately knew that if he was the liar he could not tell you the truth that a monster lied behind his door. However, then you would possibly think that the truthful guard is in front of the treasure and said monster lies back there, which is a lie but also means that the other guard would have to switch opposingly too making no sense out of the truth and lies of the situation if the truthful person said monster because you could buy one but there wasn't one so he lied and the liar could say monster too knowing that you know the situation and decides that to tell the truth would be the ultimate lie, he could make the whole situation into a liar.

What is the teacher's solution? This is how I was close. You are to ask one guard "Which door would he tell me to choose?" Naturally, the liar would point at his own door because he knows the truthful person would point at his door of treasure and so he must lie about the door that would be pointed at. The truthful person would say that the liar would choose his own door because he's a liar (so, whoever points to his own door is the liar). BUUUUT, there really is no truth or falsity to this. Whose to say that, just because the truthful guard is truthful that he's also helpful and wants you to win? If he didn't want you to win, then he would tell you to choose the door with the monster. Likewise, who's to say that the lying guard is malicious? Maybe he has a curse on him and really wants you to win, so he would tell you to choose the door with the treasure? No one ever said that the guards wanted you to pick their doors, in fact, it was never clearly stated that the truthful guard guards the teasure and the liar guards the monster, they were only put into that order to identify a logical, self-conclusion that was unstated. More to the point, however, is why would the truthful guard necessarily tell you to choose the treasure? Maybe it is his treasure and he would rather see you killed than give it up? Maybe the liar would want you to get the treasure because the monster is his pet and doesn't want it to be upset, or perhaps he values your life, even if he has to lie--or if he really is dishonest at heart, maybe he wants you to get the truthful guards treasure because, once you have it, he can defeat you more easily than the other guard to get the treasure for himself? Riddles are not necessarily as simple as they first appear, and who's to say that the originator's answer is the correct one, or the best one on top of that?

An example of what I mean would be another riddle I came acrossed. What kind of horse only comes out at night? Do you know? The answer was Pegasus, the constellation, I researched that because I did not think it was as good as my own (not that I'm saying my guard answer is better, I am disatisfied with both answers), but that's the answer I kept getting people responding with, no matter where the riddle was posed. My answer? A nightMARE. I think mine is more of a fun answer, though I can't explain why, I guess because it's less flat and more of a play on words than the other answer, and I love word play.

However, there are problems with both of these answers. Neither one is reeeeeeally a horse, first of all, one no more than the other. Secondly, stars are out during the day time too, it's just that the sun is so bright we cannot see them and people sometimes have nightmares when sleeping during the day (do we call them daymares?). This was the easiest riddle I ever played with to get my answer, I read the riddle and had a reply within the minute. However, I am not saying I have the best answer, only that I prefer my answer. Essentially, what I am saying is that the accepted answer to a riddle (or anything else for that matter) is not necessarily the only nor is it necessarily the best answer (that would be an argument of tradition, which is a logical fallacy). There are other answers that can fit, if the person makes a good enough case, and sometimes there are better answers (in one way or another). Many times, there is not only one answer at all, but many, equally valid answers (at least once explained).

I told my instructor that he might want to make sure future classes know that you can't pose an either or question to this riddle and it must be an if then case, he thanked me for the tip and said next time he'll probably just use it as an in class example instead of a test question. If anyone is even still reading this (or as I'm being told right now, even following it) to read the conclusion lol. Sorry if I lost anyone else ^^"