full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Alex Gendler: Everything changed when the fire crystal got stolen
Unscramble the Blue Letters
The trick is in being strategic about where we begin our ginssueg. Some apusotinmss might not lead to contradictions without making further assumptions. We want to pick one that creates the most constraints on its own, and thus gives us the most information when it trnus out to be right or wrong. Take, for example, Sumi’s statement. If we assume she’s telling the truth, we’d know the identity of both truth tellers. Rikku would have the Water crystal, and since she’s not lying about him, Sumi would have Earth. So Bella would have the Fire crystal, as Rikku says. But then Bella would have to be lnyig about joanh having the Air crystal. And yet that’s the only remaining option. This is a cttdnaoroiicn, and it tells us our initial assumption was wnorg. So now we can go back to the start, but with the added knowledge that Sumi is lying.
Open Cloze
The trick is in being strategic about where we begin our ________. Some ___________ might not lead to contradictions without making further assumptions. We want to pick one that creates the most constraints on its own, and thus gives us the most information when it _____ out to be right or wrong. Take, for example, Sumi’s statement. If we assume she’s telling the truth, we’d know the identity of both truth tellers. Rikku would have the Water crystal, and since she’s not lying about him, Sumi would have Earth. So Bella would have the Fire crystal, as Rikku says. But then Bella would have to be _____ about _____ having the Air crystal. And yet that’s the only remaining option. This is a _____________, and it tells us our initial assumption was _____. So now we can go back to the start, but with the added knowledge that Sumi is lying.
Solution
- wrong
- jonah
- contradiction
- lying
- guessing
- turns
- assumptions
Original Text
The trick is in being strategic about where we begin our guessing. Some assumptions might not lead to contradictions without making further assumptions. We want to pick one that creates the most constraints on its own, and thus gives us the most information when it turns out to be right or wrong. Take, for example, Sumi’s statement. If we assume she’s telling the truth, we’d know the identity of both truth tellers. Rikku would have the Water crystal, and since she’s not lying about him, Sumi would have Earth. So Bella would have the Fire crystal, as Rikku says. But then Bella would have to be lying about Jonah having the Air crystal. And yet that’s the only remaining option. This is a contradiction, and it tells us our initial assumption was wrong. So now we can go back to the start, but with the added knowledge that Sumi is lying.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
proper containment |
2 |
air crystal |
2 |
means bella |
2 |
Important Words
- added
- air
- assume
- assumption
- assumptions
- bella
- constraints
- contradiction
- contradictions
- creates
- crystal
- earth
- fire
- guessing
- identity
- information
- initial
- jonah
- knowledge
- lead
- lying
- making
- option
- pick
- remaining
- rikku
- start
- statement
- strategic
- sumi
- tellers
- telling
- tells
- trick
- truth
- turns
- water
- wrong