Welcome one, welcome all, to the 71st edition of the Skeptic's Circle. The theme for this week is logic. Logic puzzles to be precise. After all, logic is one of the best razors against irrational thinking, and like any razor it needs to be periodically sharpened. So, for that purpose I've prepared some logic puzzles for you all to work through, each one based on a post submitted.
I've sorted the puzzles by a rough estimate of their difficulty, though the ones each person will find easiest will likely differ. Feel free to discuss the puzzles in the comments, including guesses as to the answers (though if you've heard one before, don't spoil the fun for others). Just be warned that if you go reading the comments, you might run across an answer or two that's already been guessed.
I've also prepared a "Just the links" version if you're short on time or logic, so feel free to take advantage of that.
The next Skeptic's Circle will be hosted at The Quackometer Blog. Check over there for contact information to submit for next week's. So long, and happy puzzle-solving!
Dude.
ReplyDeleteThe Man - he's you.
I love this edition! Encouraging skeptics to be skeptical and examine their own logical fallacies...what an idea.
ReplyDeleteWell, you completely missed the point here, anon, but I won't argue that it's a good idea for skeptics to make sure they aren't committing any logical fallacies themselves. Here's a hint for future trolling: Don't say anything agreeable.
ReplyDeleteAnonny, care to point out any of those fallacies, or have you devoted your life to being a paper tiger (and failing)?
ReplyDeleteInfo: Question on my puzzle: I presume the fundie runs to the point on the circle nearest my location, right?
When do you post the answers?
ReplyDeleteBD: Yup, he'll always run towards that point. That's the best way to catch you (or if you make it impossible, the way to make it hardest on you).
ReplyDeleteAnony #2: I'll give it a couple of weeks at minimum, but I'm hoping commenters will come along and figure them out for me.
I find with these puzzles that if you know the answers are around, you'll look for them before you've really started to think hard about the problem, so you get the best results when you can't see the answers. Usually, if you figure out a problem, it will be obvious that it works. If it isn't, you can post your guess in the comments and I'll let you know if it does.
Should we perhaps leave answers at the blogs you link to? In this way, there would be no spoilers....
ReplyDelete