Frank_Hirsch comments on Variable Question Fallacies - Less Wrong

21 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 05 March 2008 06:22AM

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Comment author: Frank_Hirsch 06 March 2008 09:02:13AM 5 points [-]

I think the trouble about "Have you stopped beating your wife?" is that it is not about a state but about a state transition. It asks "10?", and the answer "no" really leaves three possibilities open (including that the questionee has recently started beating his wife). The sentence structure implies a false choice between answers 10 and 11, because we are used to asking (and answering) yes/no questions about 1-bit issues while here we deal with a 2-bit issue. But you probably knew all that... =)