The premise that's false is 99 blue eyed people would leave on the 99th day. — flannel jesus
That's not my premise. — Michael
Imagine 3 blues and 5 browns and 1 green. — flannel jesus
Imagine rather, that there are 3 blues, 5 browns, 1 green, and you. You know thus that everyone can see at least 2 blues if they are blue, and at least 4 browns if they are brown and so on. — unenlightened
So if the 99 you see leave on the 99th day, on the 100th day you'll conclude you have blue eyes anyway? — flannel jesus
If your reasoning works, then it must be true that 99 leave on the 99th day. Right? — flannel jesus
No.
My reasoning is: if the 99 blue leave on the 99th day then I am not blue, else I am blue — Michael
I'm really not trying to be sense here but, doesn't that make the answer to the question "yes"? — flannel jesus
right, and in order for that to be true, that only 99 would leave on day 99, then it must also be true that only 98 would leave on day 98, right? — flannel jesus
I'm saying the statement, "if there were only 99, they would leave on day 99" can only be true if it's also true that "if there were only 98, they would leave on day 98" — flannel jesus
No, that's false. Although both statements are true, neither depends on the other. — Michael
Why would 99 leave on day 99 if they didn't reason that only 98 would leave on day 98? — flannel jesus
if there were only 99, then no they wouldn't think it's not possible for blues to leave on day 98. That's what we're reasoning about. We're reasoning about "if there were only 99" — flannel jesus
Again, this is a valid argument:
1. There are 100 blue
2. Therefore, every blue sees 99 blue
3. Every blue commits to the rule: if the 99 blue I see don't leave on the 99th day then I am blue and will leave on the 100th day, else I am not blue
4. Therefore, every blue will leave on the 100th day, declaring themselves to be blue — Michael
No one has begun to show it for any numbers, but because from outside the situation we know the complete numbers, we are told in advance. We can reason from that to what we think they all should be able to reason. But they don't know the very thing we start with, how many blues, browns and greens there are. If they all knew that, everyone would leave immediately, assuming logicians can count. — unenlightened
Why would they commit to 3? — flannel jesus
Unfortunately, no one within the puzzle knows premise 1. — unenlightened
1. If I know that there is at least one blue and if I do not see a blue then I am blue and will leave tonight — Michael
This is an impossible condition, because if you do not see a blue, and no one has told you anything you cannot know that there is at least 1 blue. — unenlightened
(1) doesn't say "nobody has told me anything". — Michael
Then it should say '...and someone has said "I see blue"' because otherwise it is contradictory. — unenlightened
Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.