One day, where a large international conference of the world’s smartest philosophers was taking place, an angel appeared and said, “I’m here as a messenger from God. You may ask me one and only one question and I will reply truthfully. What would you like to know?”
The assortment of philosophers huddled together to discuss what question that they wanted to know the answer to.
Feeling clever and sure of himself, one philosopher proposed the first question: “What would be the best question for us to ask, and what is the answer to that question?” However this would count as two questions and couldn’t be asked.
The next question proposed was, “What would be the answer to the best question to ask?” That would at least give them an answer, but it was declined because the answer could have been something like, “yes” or “thirty”.
Finally, one question was approved by the group: “What is the ordered pair whose first member is the question that would be the best one for us to ask you, and whose second member is the answer to that question?” The philosophers reasoned that this was the safest and most clever question to ask the angel.
When asked this question, the angel replied, “It is the ordered pair whose first member is the question you just asked me, and whose second member is this answer I am giving you.”
The question that was asked was obviously the wrong thing to ask, but why? The philosophers had devised a nearly-foolproof question for the angel, but after reading this submission from http://www.mendhak.com/118-a-list-of-paradoxes.aspx, I came to realize that the philosophers had devised the most foolproof question. And that was the problem, it was too perfect. In fact, it was the best question they could ask, which is the question that they were asking for. How clever.
The assortment of philosophers huddled together to discuss what question that they wanted to know the answer to.
Feeling clever and sure of himself, one philosopher proposed the first question: “What would be the best question for us to ask, and what is the answer to that question?” However this would count as two questions and couldn’t be asked.
The next question proposed was, “What would be the answer to the best question to ask?” That would at least give them an answer, but it was declined because the answer could have been something like, “yes” or “thirty”.
Finally, one question was approved by the group: “What is the ordered pair whose first member is the question that would be the best one for us to ask you, and whose second member is the answer to that question?” The philosophers reasoned that this was the safest and most clever question to ask the angel.
When asked this question, the angel replied, “It is the ordered pair whose first member is the question you just asked me, and whose second member is this answer I am giving you.”
The question that was asked was obviously the wrong thing to ask, but why? The philosophers had devised a nearly-foolproof question for the angel, but after reading this submission from http://www.mendhak.com/118-a-list-of-paradoxes.aspx, I came to realize that the philosophers had devised the most foolproof question. And that was the problem, it was too perfect. In fact, it was the best question they could ask, which is the question that they were asking for. How clever.
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