Replying to a comment on:

No Worries (Free verse) by Dovina

(by Asaph, circa 950BC, Psalm 73 NIV with changes and omissions by Dovina) My feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied them In their prosperity, Having no struggles, their bodies healthy and strong, Free from common burdens, not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes evil; their conceits are limitless. They scoff, and speak malice; in their arrogance they threaten. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore people turn to them and drink their waters in abundance, And say, "How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge? Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.”

-=Dark_Angel=-, P.I. 4-Apr-05/5:02 PM
I knew you'd say that. I'm not trying to trap you or catch you out. When you consider the problem of extracting information from a Liar, it becomes clear that there are two sorts of liars. To give you an idea of why Liar-Confusers were introduced to the discussion, consider the question "What did you have for breakfast?"

Someone who is a liar answering your question could give two sorts of answer. The first is of the form "I didn't have baked beans". This is an informative lie, because you instantly know the liar had baked beans. In our formulation, this is what a Liar would say. The other possible answer is of the form "I had Ely Cathedral for breakfast." This lie is an answer to the question, but it is completely uninformative, because we don't get any closer to finding out what the liar actually had for breakfast. That is the sort of thing a Liar-Confuser would say.

I have not added any new rules that weren't already obvious. If you insist that Liar-Confusers don't have to answer the question, then they could just lock themselves in a cupboard and parp the national anthem. That's not answering the question. It's also academically an utterly useless example.




Track and Plan your submissions ; Read some Comics ; Get Paid for your Poetry
PoemRanker Copyright © 2001 - 2024 - kaolin fire - All Rights Reserved
All poems Copyright © their respective authors
An internet tradition since June 9, 2001