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

  1. wrong
  2. jonah
  3. contradiction
  4. lying
  5. guessing
  6. turns
  7. 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

  1. added
  2. air
  3. assume
  4. assumption
  5. assumptions
  6. bella
  7. constraints
  8. contradiction
  9. contradictions
  10. creates
  11. crystal
  12. earth
  13. fire
  14. guessing
  15. identity
  16. information
  17. initial
  18. jonah
  19. knowledge
  20. lead
  21. lying
  22. making
  23. option
  24. pick
  25. remaining
  26. rikku
  27. start
  28. statement
  29. strategic
  30. sumi
  31. tellers
  32. telling
  33. tells
  34. trick
  35. truth
  36. turns
  37. water
  38. wrong