[geocentrism] Re: Puzzle
- From: Martin Selbrede <mselbrede@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: geocentrism@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2007 18:45:28 -0500
Well, Paul, I guess your faith in me was misplaced!
The only other thing that bothered me was the nature of the
albatross, when the process of price attrition proceeded far enough.
Since there's always a finite smallest denomination of money, the
process of the price dropping from one owner to the next reaches
zero: the next person to sell it must sell it at a lower price than
zero, which either means he's the final owner guaranteed to go to
hell, OR, he must GIVE somebody money to take it. Assume it's the
latter: eventually, the sum of money to influence the next owner to
acquire the pot will continue to grow after that point, presumably to
the stage (after enough people on earth have had the pot) that it
becomes exorbitant. If someone offers to pay you a million dollars to
take the pot off his hands, it starts to look more and more like an
albatross rather than a good deal. Moreover, the laws of economics
and monetary inflation will further insure that if enough folks wish
to become rich using the pot, nobody will become rich but rather the
economy will quickly enter a hyper-inflation phase Weimar-style. I
don't think that the pot can deliver monetary wealth before a given
nation's currency is destroyed. I would think the king would see both
problems, but I don't know if either of them would have been the
pivotal reason to eject the salesman.
On the moral quandary front, a Calvinist reading this story would say
that anyone acquiring the pot and dying while owning it was a son of
perdition to begin with -- that the pot would generally be directed
into the hands of depraved individuals who could have any wish they
wanted. Since the scripture affirms that "an appetite for silver
cannot be satisfied with silver," an avalanche of terrible
consequences will quickly ensue. Further, possessors of the pot would
be in the morally reprehensible position of attempting to pass, "in
potentia," a ticket to hell on to their fellow citizens. Reminds one
of Mark Twain's story "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg."
Since the logic of the pot cannot be overcome, we'd suspect that the
solutions offered in the second part of Faust, or in "The Devil and
Daniel Webster," don't apply.
Martin S
On Apr 7, 2007, at 11:51 AM, Paul Deema wrote:
Martin S
Chronology: Martin S > Paul D
From Martin G. Selbrede Fri Apr 6 18:39:04 2007
The salesman said this:
This sum is payable on delivery but may be placed in escrow until
either its utility has been established or 30 days have passed
whichever is the sooner.
What if 30 days passes before the pot's utility has been
established (it could be a fake that doesn't grant any wishes at
all). The money in escrow goes to the salesman anyway. It looks
like this is a way for the salesman to make $1250 on a worthless
piece of ceramic.
Well the King expressed satisfaction with the terms and he did have
30 days to test it after all, surely a trivial task.
Martin S.
=======================================
From Martin G. Selbrede Fri Apr 6 19:02:58 2007
I use only Macintosh computers so I don't have access to the
solution, which requires a PC to run the executable. Since the puzzle
was closed on 4/2, I didn't think I was violating the contest terms
by commenting on the puzzle on the forum, as Robert Bennett had also
done. Forgive me if that was an ill-conceived conclusion.
Sorry -- I didn't forsee this problem.
I'll send you the solution if you want. I'm surprised -- I thought
you'd be the one to knock this one over!
Martin S.
Paul D
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