Philosophical debates and logic puzzles

[LeveragedBuyout]

Just to get us thinking a bit, let's assume we humans will never perceive or measure anything outside our universe. Is there nothing beyond our walls? If we can't measure, we can imaging but never confirm, our concept remaining both non and actual reality, like Schrödinger's cat, can we say nothing exists beyond the bounds of our time and space? Also, let's assume we live in the single universe theory, no multiple universes, no supreme beings either. I'll leave the possibility of more, non-percievable dimensions though.

What's beyond the walls of our universe?

Hey @LeveragedBuyout I know you don't come around much anymore, but like a few of us you wanted the discussions here to be more mentally stimulating. You interested in "throwing down" with us?

Fascinating thread, and I'm sure to read it when I have time. Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of the annual book-keeping/audit/tax rush for my businesses and personal returns, so my ability to contribute will be severely restricted for the time being. Thanks for bringing this thread to my attention, though--it will be a great way to decompress afterwards.

 

[Levina]

I often find my "head in the clouds", but now wonder whether those clouds are even real! What do the people of PDF think about the concept of our universe not being real, a hologram or an artificial construct of our own consciousness? Is everything we interact with nothing more than the same we see on a computer, or an illusion of our own thoughts? Do we even exist as we think we do? Perhaps we are someones else's reality they are imagining with a conscious created in someone else's head and only think we can think? Thoughts?

Are You Living in a Simulation?

Physicists Believe Our Universe Is One Big Hologram, And They May Have Spotted the Pixels

Are we just a 3D hologram created by 2D information stored at the edge of the universe?

Perhaps our reality is a 2 dimensional mathematical equation?

My second question is this. We talk a lot about morality here, each religion, culture and country having their own judicial practices and concepts of right or wrong, but which is the universal "right" methodology or approach?

"Essentially, we'll never truly be able to distinguish between "right" and "wrong" actions. At any given time in history, however, philosophers, theologians, and politicians will claim to have discovered the best way to evaluate human actions and establish the most righteous code of conduct. But it's never that easy. Life is far too messy and complicated for there to be anything like a universal morality or an absolutist ethics. The Golden Rule is great (the idea that you should treat others as you would like them to treat you), but it disregards moral autonomy and leaves no room for the imposition of justice (such as jailing criminals), and can even be used to justify oppression (Immanuel Kant was among its most staunchest critics). Moreover, it's a highly simplified rule of thumb that doesn't provision for more complex scenarios. For example, should the few be spared to save the many? Who has more moral worth: a human baby or a full-grown great ape? And as neuroscientists have shown, morality is not only a culturally-ingrained thing, it's also a part of our psychologies (the Trolly Problem is the best demonstration of this). At best, we can only say that morality is normative, while acknowledging that our sense of right and wrong will change over time."

8 Great Philosophical Questions That We'll Never Solve

*Also, for those not familiar with some of the topics that I hope will find themselves here, assuming people actually take hold of this thread, I will provide reference material and articles on the topics, and usually from many different angles and biases to provided a well-rounded perspective on the topics (again, assuming more than one source or perspective can be found).

**If you need a jump start, can't think of a question, I pulled a few from this article, perhaps you can use Gizmodo or Io9 as a springboard too.

8 Great Philosophical Questions That We'll Never Solve

Finally, for those that don't think philosophy is important in an age of science:

Why Physicists Need Philosophers

I'll debate the merits of this too! And please, feel free to contribute your own content!!!

@Nihonjin1051 - even if this thread is just a back-and-forth between you and I, hell, I'm all for it (two fellow psych practitioners picking each other's brains! Sounds like fun!), but feel free and please invite any others you believe to be of high quality or those you think have an interest in philosophical debates!

@Gufi - I'll invite you too!

So Mr. @SvenSvensonov you've started your own "brainwars" ???

Let me try answering the milk jug puzzle.
Frankly as a cook I often am supposed to measure 2/3rd or 1/3rd of a cup to take flour/sugar etc for various recipes.
So by that habit, I would just pick up the 3 gallon jug and draw an imaginary line at 1/3rd of that jug in my mind. Then fill milk upto that imaginary line and call it a gallon and trust me it will measure a gallon.
But I do know thats not the answer.
All one has to do is to fill the 3 gallon jug with milk and pour the milk into 5 gallon jug and then fill the 3 gallon jug again, empty the content into 5 gallon jug.
In short the 5 gallon jug will be filled as 3 gallons (1st attempt) + 2 gallons (2nd attempt).
But the second time u do that the 3 gallon jug would not be emptied completely and whatever remains in the jug would be 1 gallon of milk.

I havent read other answers here. I hope @Nihonjin1051 and @Jungibaaz bhai have solved other puzzles too.
Btw I did not get any alert.

Now let me read the other puzzles you've posted.

 

[Gauss]

MILK JUGS:

A milkman has two empty jugs: a three gallon jug and a five gallon jug. How can he measure exactly one gallon without wasting any milk?

TRUE STATEMENTS:

A. The number of false statements here is one.

B. The number of false statements here is two.

C. The number of false statements here is three.

D. The number of false statements here is four.

Which of the above statements is true?

LOGIC POEM:

The following verse spells out a word, letter by letter. "My first" refers to the word's first letter, and so on. What's the word that this verse describes?

My first is in fish but not in snail
My second in rabbit but not in tail
My third in up but not down
My fourth in tiara not in crown
My fifth in tree you plainly see
My whole a food for you and me

THREE BOXES:

There are three boxes, one contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been incorrectly labeled such that no label identifies the actual contents of the box it labels. Opening just one box, and without looking in the box, you take out one piece of fruit. By looking at the fruit, how can you immediately label all of the boxes correctly.

Which box did you open and how can you be sure to label all boxes correctly

BURNING ROPES:

A rope burns non-uniformly for exactly one hour. How do you measure 45 minutes, given two such ropes?

FOUR DIGIT NUMBER:

What is the four-digit number in which the first digit is one-third the second, the third is the sum of the first and second, and the last is three times the second?

Only logic poem and burning ropes have not been answered yet so i'll answer those.
Answer to logic poem is FRUIT.
Solution to Burning Ropes is to light the first rope from both ends simultaneously let it burn completely. Identify the spot where the two flames met, measure it, mark that spot on the second rope and cut it from there. Take any of the two pieces and light it from both ends. When it has burnt completely exactly 45 mins have passed. The first rope burned in 30 mins and the piece from the second rope burned in 15 mins.

 

[Levina]

My first is in fish but not in snail
My second in rabbit but not in tail
My third in up but not down
My fourth in tiara not in crown
My fifth in tree you plainly see
My whole a food for you and me

FRUIT!!!
Am I right???


say

.... say

 

[Gauss]

These three are much more difficult: Analytical Puzzles - Very Difficult

1. The Emperor

You are the ruler of a medieval empire and you are about to have a celebration tomorrow. The celebration is the most important party you have ever hosted. You've got 1000 bottles of wine you were planning to open for the celebration, but you find out that one of them is poisoned.

The poison exhibits no symptoms until death. Death occurs within ten to twenty hours after consuming even the minutest amount of poison.

You have over a thousand slaves at your disposal and just under 24 hours to determine which single bottle is poisoned.

You have a handful of prisoners about to be executed, and it would mar your celebration to have anyone else killed.

What is the smallest number of prisoners you must have to drink from the bottles to be absolutely sure to find the poisoned bottle within 24 hours?

2. The Stark Raving Mad King

A stark raving mad king tells his 100 wisest men he is about to line them up and that he will place either a red or blue hat on each of their heads. Once lined up, they must not communicate amongst themselves. Nor may they attempt to look behind them or remove their own hat.

The king tells the wise men that they will be able to see all the hats in front of them. They will not be able to see the color of their own hat or the hats behind them, although they will be able to hear the answers from all those behind them.

The king will then start with the wise man in the back and ask "what color is your hat?" The wise man will only be allowed to answer "red" or "blue," nothing more. If the answer is incorrect then the wise man will be silently killed. If the answer is correct then the wise man may live but must remain absolutely silent.

The king will then move on to the next wise man and repeat the question.

The king makes it clear that if anyone breaks the rules then all the wise men will die, then allows the wise men to consult before lining them up. The king listens in while the wise men consult each other to make sure they don't devise a plan to cheat. To communicate anything more than their guess of red or blue by coughing or shuffling would be breaking the rules.

What is the maximum number of men they can be guaranteed to save?

3. The Fake Coin

You have twelve coins. You know that one is fake. The only thing that distinguishes the fake coin from the real coins is that its weight is imperceptibly different. You have a perfectly balanced scale. The scale only tells you which side weighs more than the other side.

What is the smallest number of times you must use the scale in order to always find the fake coin?

Use only the twelve coins themselves and no others, no other weights, no cutting coins, no pencil marks on the scale. etc.

These are modern coins, so the fake coin is not necessarily lighter.

Presume the worst case scenario, and don't hope that you will pick the right coin on the first attempt.

The Emperor
Firstly i think you have made a typing mistake because death should occur within ten to twelve hours of drinking the poisoned wine, not ten to twenty, for this puzzle to make sense.
The solution is to divide the bottles into 32 batches. 31 batches will contain 32 bottles each and 1 batch will contain 8 bottles. Then assign one prisoner to each batch. That will make 32 prisoners as well. Then make each prisoner drink a tiny amount from each bottle in his batch. After twelve hours one will die and we will know which batch contains the poisoned wine. Then assign each bottle of this batch to a prisoner. That will make 32 prisoners. 31 will be available but one new prisoner will have to be brought as one died in the previous testing. Make the prisoners drink a tiny amount from their bottles. One will die and we will find the poisoned bottle. So this solution required 33 prisoners.
The stark raving mad king
Minimum fifty wise men can be saved. The last man will call the colour of hat in front of him. The next will now know the colour of his hat and he will call it and be saved. The next will again call the colour of hat in front if him and this process will continue.
Fake coin
In worst case scenario the scale will be used four times.

 

[Gauss]

Here is a famous puzzle. Whoever solves it has the potential to become a computing billionaire like Bill Gates.

Five men with different nationalities and with different jobs live in consecutive houses on a street. The houses are painted different colors. The men have different pets and have different favorite drinks. Determine who owns a zebra and whose favorite drink is mineral water (which is one of the favorite drinks) given these clues: The Englishman lives in the red house. The Spaniard owns a dog. The Japanese man is a painter. The Italian drinks tea. The Norwegian lives in the first house on the left. The green house is on the right of the white one. The photographer breeds snails. The diplomat lives in the yellow house. Milk is drunk in the middle house. The owner of the green house drinks coffee. The Norwegian’s house is next to the blue one. The violinist drinks orange juice. The fox is in a house next to that of the physician. The horse is in a house next to that of the diplomat.

Paperwork is a must to solve this puzzle.

@SvenSvensonov @levina @Jungibaaz

 

[Levina]

FOUR DIGIT NUMBER:

What is the four-digit number in which the first digit is one-third the second, the third is the sum of the first and second, and the last is three times the second?

4 digit number= WXYZ
w= 1/3 of X
x
y= W + X
z= 3x
because the number cant be in decimals the easiest guess is x = 3

so the digits 're
w= 1
x= 3
y= 3 +1 = 4
z= 3 x 3= 9

Number is 1349.

 

[firestorm77]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?
Before answering this question, what is nothing and what is something?

Nothing in my mind is the absence of everything ie space, time & matter.

Can singularity be regarded as nothing? Probably not, a universe with zero radius is not the same as no universe.

So to answer your question, something always existed.

 

[Yogijaat]

Here is a famous puzzle. Whoever solves it has the potential to become a computing billionaire like Bill Gates.

Five men with different nationalities and with different jobs live in consecutive houses on a street. The houses are painted different colors. The men have different pets and have different favorite drinks. Determine who owns a zebra and whose favorite drink is mineral water (which is one of the favorite drinks) given these clues: The Englishman lives in the red house. The Spaniard owns a dog. The Japanese man is a painter. The Italian drinks tea. The Norwegian lives in the first house on the left. The green house is on the right of the white one. The photographer breeds snails. The diplomat lives in the yellow house. Milk is drunk in the middle house. The owner of the green house drinks coffee. The Norwegian’s house is next to the blue one. The violinist drinks orange juice. The fox is in a house next to that of the physician. The horse is in a house next to that of the diplomat.

Paperwork is a must to solve this puzzle.

@SvenSvensonov @levina @Jungibaaz

norwegian right?

 

[Gauss]

norwegian right?

One man owns the zebra and another drinks water. You are to tell who does what.

 

[Yogijaat]

One man owns the zebra and another drinks water. You are to tell who does what.

Norwign for water for sure other i don't know

 

[Gauss]

Norwign for water for sure other i don't know

Correct. But if you have done the paperwork you should know both.

 

[jhungary]

Hey everyone, as has been talked about by @Nihonjin1051 and @Jungibaaz (albeit from a hypothetical standpoint), I'm starting this thread to promote philosophical debates and logical thinking. I feel this is something that can improve the quality of contributions here on PDF... which is at times devoid of rational thought. I invite anyone to participate, but please keep the conversations relevant. Also, I'll start things off with a few logic puzzles. Feel free to offer your own discussions, puzzles and solutions!!!

The goal here isn't to unravel any great mysteries, it's to think more in depth and get a bit more brain excersise then usual. And remember - there is no right or wrong answer, no smart or stupid question, trying is all I ask!

Enjoy!!!

SvenSvensonov

MILK JUGS:

A milkman has two empty jugs: a three gallon jug and a five gallon jug. How can he measure exactly one gallon without wasting any milk?

TRUE STATEMENTS:

A. The number of false statements here is one.

B. The number of false statements here is two.

C. The number of false statements here is three.

D. The number of false statements here is four.

Which of the above statements is true?

LOGIC POEM:

The following verse spells out a word, letter by letter. "My first" refers to the word's first letter, and so on. What's the word that this verse describes?

My first is in fish but not in snail
My second in rabbit but not in tail
My third in up but not down
My fourth in tiara not in crown
My fifth in tree you plainly see
My whole a food for you and me

THREE BOXES:

There are three boxes, one contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been incorrectly labeled such that no label identifies the actual contents of the box it labels. Opening just one box, and without looking in the box, you take out one piece of fruit. By looking at the fruit, how can you immediately label all of the boxes correctly.

Which box did you open and how can you be sure to label all boxes correctly

BURNING ROPES:

A rope burns non-uniformly for exactly one hour. How do you measure 45 minutes, given two such ropes?

FOUR DIGIT NUMBER:

What is the four-digit number in which the first digit is one-third the second, the third is the sum of the first and second, and the last is three times the second?

@Nihonjin1051 I'm game for a philosophical debate, assuming it doesn't relate to anything political.

Actually, I've got an early topic that relates to my job. Over the Christmas period, when I tried to quit PDF, I got both a raise, increased stress and increased responsibilities, my increased responsibilities relate to the military usage of cybernetics - mechanical human parts (sorry, can't go too much further than that). My question to you is this, 1.) do you consider this ethical? 2.) At what point do we cease to be human? 3.) Will this become a new form of eugenics that sees people alter themselves to match certain human phenotypes and conditions, ultimately leading to a more perfect being - at least in their own eyes? I can't help but be reminded of early eugenics tries with selective breeding and to me this isn't too much more different.

Also, what does the ability to prolong our lives contribute to the trajectory of human populations? Do we begin to thin out our poor, those who can't afford such modification and opt for a more healthy, but smaller and longer living population? What about the impact of prolonged human live's on our worlds resources?

@Nihonjin1051 - thoughts or topics (if this one doesn't interest you, or anyone else, or you have limited expertise and can't contribute with enough quality... I have plenty of subjects like that and like plenty of other subjects that I would be willing to debate)?

@Armstrong @levina @Chinese-Dragon - and anyone else interested in such debates!

the milk jug things sas on Die Hard 3....

 

[Levina]

the milk jug things sas on Die Hard 3....

????

 

[jhungary]

????

i said, the milk jug puzzle was featured in Die Hard 3 as one of the puzzle he need to solve before the bomb exploded...