We like riddles because they challenge the way we think most of the time. You have to take on the challenge, because much of the day we live on autopilot. We are so used to our routine that we can go days without intellectual effort, but a riddle involves using our logical abilities to get to the key to a mystery.
Who will never get their hair wet in the rain?
A bald guy!
Like the previous one, there are riddles that even seem like jokes, and if you thought about it… no, that’s not the hardest riddle in the world. It is just one example of how we can challenge our brain to find the answer as quickly as possible. According to El País, the most difficult riddle in the world says the following:
Three gods A, B, and C are named True, False, and Random (not necessarily in that order). True always tells the truth, False always lies, and Random’s response can be true or false. Would you know who A, B and C are, asking only three questions whose answer is yes or no? Wait, there is more: the gods will answer in their language. His words to yes and no are ‘da’ and ‘ja’, but you don’t know what each one means.
You can ask more than one question to the same god (and therefore have some god not answer any question).
What the second question is and to whom you ask it may depend on the answer you get to the first question (same for the third).
Random will answer with the truth or a lie as if tossing a coin mentally: if it comes up heads, it will tell the truth; if he comes out tails, he will speak falsely.
Random will answer either da or ha each time it is asked a yes or no question.
Did you get it? This is not an ordinary puzzle, it is actually known as andhe most difficult logic puzzle in history, and was named after George Boolos when he published it in The Harvard Review of Philosophy in 1996. He credits Raymond Sullyman, a New York mathematician, magician, and concert performer, as the creator of the puzzle, and John McCarthy , computational scientist, to add the difficulty of not knowing what da or ja means.
The answer
According to El País, the best way to find the solution to the riddle is through these questions:
1. God B is asked: If I asked you if A is Random, would you answer ha? If B answers ‘ja’, either B is Random (and answers randomly) or B is not Random and the answer indicates that A is Random. In any case, C is not Random. If B answers ‘da’, either B is Random (and answers randomly), or B is not Random and the answer indicates that A is not Random. In this case, A is not Random.
2. We go to one of those who we already know is not Random thanks to the previous question (A or C) and ask him: if I asked you if you are Truth, would you answer ‘ja’? Since he is not Random, a ‘ja’ means he is True and a ‘da’ indicates he is False.
3. The same god is asked: If I ask you if B is Random, would your answer be ‘ja’? If you answer ‘ja’, B is Random. If he answers ‘da’, the god we haven’t asked yet is Random. The one that remains can be identified by elimination.
That’s how you determine the gods, and if you think it’s pretty complicated, welcome to the club. Finally, B. Rabern and L. Rabern created a paradox out of the puzzle. According to them, a god, confronted with a paradox, could not say ha or da, so he would not answer. For example, if Truth is asked: Are you going to answer this question with the question that means no in your language? It is an impossibility for a god who only tells the truth, so according to them, his head would explode. As well as ours after trying to solve the puzzle without help.
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