sorry I tried to read your crazyness over other riddles and then it suddenly struck me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />
Ohhhh! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> You're not - trying to <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> - insult just me here, but everybody else who supports the answer,
and the people who invented it!
![[Linked Image]](http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons/58.gif)
I should, but I'm not giving up on you guys! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" />
Look, I know the explanation with "different realities" sounds a little "sci-fi". <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" /> It sounds
surreal - but that happens to be the whole point in the first place, that's exactly what I've been trying to prove the whole time! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ouch.gif" alt="" />
A condition has a consequence depending on whether it's met or not. The direct consequence of
this condition when not being met, is that the situation I'm asking a question about isn't real.
You disagree that the condition doesn't have any effect on the question in the second part. Suppose I ask you "Is tomorrow Monday?". In reality, tomorrow it's Friday, so the answer is "no".
Now, you are saying that the following question is exactly the same as the one above: "If today is Sunday, is tomorrow Monday?". It obviously isn't same question, because the correct answer to the first question is "no", and the answer to the second one is "yes". Do you agree that the condition made it a completely different question?
That part was easy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> It was already surreal though, but we still KNEW the answer, because it's a certainty that Monday ALWAYS follows after Sunday. The situation with the people in that room is different of course:
Make "Is A a truth-teller?" question (1).
If I'd ask today "If tomorrow is Monday, is A a truth-teller?" (2), the condition wouldn't change anything about the fact that A is ALWAYS a truth-teller, always been, always will be. It does change the question (1) though, despite the fact that the answer (2) would be the same as (1). Not in this situation perhaps, because A ALWAYS lies. But if we were in the situation where A lies on day 1, speaks the truth on day 2, lies on day 3 etc., it would have an influence on the answer (2). Still we didn't change the question (2), just the circumstances. But the fact that in this situation the condition doesn't change the answer (2), doesn't mean that it doesn't change the question (2). So we've got our question (2), and we already said that A is ALWAYS telling the truth. Same with B. B will ALWAYS be a truth-teller. Obviously, this means that A and B will ALWAYS be "the same". That's reality, mr A and ms B, you two will always be the same. You don't have to like it, but it's reality, accept it.
If I now ask mr D "Is A a truth-teller", he will answer "no". Because in reality, A is a truth-teller, and D is lying.
(Btw, lying = deliberatly not telling the truth. That means that in order for you to be able to lie, you have to KNOW the correct answer, you have to KNOW the truth. Agree?)
Now, what if I ask: "If the sky is red, ... ?" If the sky is red? But the sky isn't red you surreal weirdo! No, it isn't. If the sky is red we must be dreaming or hallucinating or something... In any way, we can't be in reality anymore if the sky is red, because the sky isn't "really" red, the sky being red isn't "real"... And we have simply no way to know anything about facts in this "surreality" - it's a purely hypothetical reality. So how can you possibly lie about anything if you can't KNOW the answer in the first place?
The explanation with parallel universes? Sure <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> :
I wasn't asking "Is A a truth-teller?", I was asking "Is A a truth-teller in a surreality", or "Is A a truth-teller in a situation that is different than this one".
A parallel universe = a theoritical reality in which one or more things have happened differently then it has in our reality. Considering that in theory, every reality in which one single event was different from the event in every other reality, is a parallel universe, the number of parallel universes is uncountable.
"Parallel universes" sounds funny, but that's what I'm asking: "Is A a truth-teller in a parallel universe?". The fact whether parallel universes
exist is irrelevent; what matters is that they're defined, and according to the definition of a parallel universe, there is un indefinit number out of them there. In an uncountable number of those parallel universes, A is a liar. In as many other parallel universes, A is a truth-teller. So the condition given in the question is obviously not enough information for D to know what parallel universe we're asking questions about.
I warned you you have to think abstract if you want to understand and appreciate the answer, didn't I? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
Do you still disagree? If so, it should be easy enough to show the flaw in the explanation. And laughing it away is not a valid argument - I can do that too <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
I'm feeling more and more insane looking at the size of this very reply. Did I really write that much?? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />
Speaking of insanity: [color:"#324372"]Lucy better stay off my neck! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> (You call that a riddle? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> ) [/color]