Three philosophers are taking a nap under a tree. While they’re asleep, a small boy smears their noses with red berries. When they awake, they each begin to laugh, thinking the other two are laughing at each other.
But then one philosopher stops laughing, realizing his nose is red too. How did he come to this conclusion?
Let’s call the philosopher’s A, B and C. A reasoned that B was confident his nose wasn’t red. If B saw A’s nose wasn’t red, he would be surprised that C was laughing, because C would have nothing to laugh at. But B wasn’t surprised, therefore, A correctly reasoned his nose was smeared.
Mario, from Super Mario Brothers video game by Nintendo. He roams the land searching for the princess and his primary method of getting rid of folks is to stomp on them.
Alphonso and his sister Sadie are entering the airport to meet their mother when Sadie gasps in surprise and says to her brother, “You see that man in the crowd over there?”
Alphonso replies, “It’s Bernie. I don’t believe it. Let’s go introduce ourselves.”
Neither of them had ever met Bernie before. They’d never seen a picture or painting of him, nor was he a famous celebrity.
Alphonso was born as a twin, but he was separated from his twin brother at birth. Bernie is Alphonso’s identical twin, which is how Sadie was able to recognize him in the crowd.
This is kind of a cheat, because there are probably other possible explanations. But we can’t have everything :)
