John_Maxwell_IV comments on Brute-force Music Composition - Less Wrong

13 Post author: HughRistik 22 May 2009 06:02AM

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Tags: heuristic music problem-solving brute-force search_space instrumental_rationality

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Comment author: John_Maxwell_IV 24 May 2009 04:59:07AM *  2 points [-]

Knights and knaves puzzles are a perfect example of brute force working. Since every participant must be either a knight (truth-teller) or a knave (liar), and there is (presumably) only one working configuration, then you only have to enumerate two possibilities: that the first person who spoke was a knight, or that the first person who spoke was a knave. Here's one of my own design.

Five natives (call them A, B, C, D, and E) come up to you.

  • A says: B is a knave.
  • B says: D is a knave.
  • C says: B and D are both knaves.
  • D says: E is a knave.
  • E says: There are even number of knights in this group.

Which are knights, and which are knaves?

Comment author: MichaelHoward 24 May 2009 09:03:25PM 4 points [-]

perfect example of where brute force working

We don't need no stinkin' brute force! When things look so black-and-white, this is a job for... the Mind-Killer!

We see two factions accusing one-another, AD vs BE. So we know one side is all good, the other side is all evil.

As for C, well if we know one side has all the answers, then anyone claiming otherwise must be a dirty liar. So there can only be 2 knights. Guess E was right, so CAD are cads.

Nice little heuristic. What could possibly go wrong?

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