I’m rather alarmed at how many people appear to have said they’re very sure they know how he did it, on (I assume, but I think it’s pretty clear) the basis of having thought of one very credible way he could have done it.
I’m going to be optimistic and suppose that all those people thought something like “Although gwern asked how sure we are that we know how it was done, context suggests that the puzzle is really ‘find a way to do it’ rather than ‘identify the specific way used in this case’, so I’ll say ‘very’ even though for all I know there could be other ways’.
(For what it’s worth, I pedantically chose the “middle” option for that question, but I found the same obvious solution as everyone else.)
I’m going to be optimistic and suppose that all those people thought something like “Although gwern asked how sure we are that we know how it was done, context suggests that the puzzle is really ‘find a way to do it’ rather than ‘identify the specific way used in this case’, so I’ll say ‘very’ even though for all I know there could be other ways’.
In the case of Umineko, there’s not really any difference between ‘find a way’ and ‘find the way’, since it adheres to a relativistic Schrodinger’s-cat-inspired epistemology where all that matters is successfully explaining the observed evidence. So I don’t expect the infelicitous wording to make a difference.
As it turns out, there’s a second possible way using a detail I didn’t bother to mention (because I assumed it was a red herring and not as satisfactory a solution anyway):
Angfhuv npghnyyl fnlf fur’f arire rire gbyq nalbar ure snibevgr frnfba rkprcg sbe gur srznyr freinag Funaaba lrnef ntb, naq guvaxf nobhg jurgure Funaaba pbhyq or pbafcvevat jvgu gur lbhat znyr pnyyre. Rkprcg Funaaba vf n ebyr cynlrq ol gur traqre-pbashfrq pebffqerffvat phycevg Lnfh (nybat jvgu gur ebyrf bs Xnaba & Orngevpr), fb gur thrff pbhyq unir orra onfrq ba abguvat ohg ure zrzbel bs orvat gbyq gung.
Crefbanyyl, rira vs V jnf va fhpu n cbfvgvba, V jbhyq fgvyy cersre hfvat gur pneq gevpx: jul pbhyqa’g Angfhuv unir punatrq ure zvaq bire gur lrnef? Be abg orra frevbhf va gur svefg cynpr? Be Funaaba unir zvferzrzorerq? rgp
I’m rather alarmed at how many people appear to have said they’re very sure they know how he did it, on (I assume, but I think it’s pretty clear) the basis of having thought of one very credible way he could have done it.
I’m going to be optimistic and suppose that all those people thought something like “Although gwern asked how sure we are that we know how it was done, context suggests that the puzzle is really ‘find a way to do it’ rather than ‘identify the specific way used in this case’, so I’ll say ‘very’ even though for all I know there could be other ways’.
(For what it’s worth, I pedantically chose the “middle” option for that question, but I found the same obvious solution as everyone else.)
In the case of Umineko, there’s not really any difference between ‘find a way’ and ‘find the way’, since it adheres to a relativistic Schrodinger’s-cat-inspired epistemology where all that matters is successfully explaining the observed evidence. So I don’t expect the infelicitous wording to make a difference.
Ah, OK. I wasn’t aware of that bit of context. Thanks.
As it turns out, there’s a second possible way using a detail I didn’t bother to mention (because I assumed it was a red herring and not as satisfactory a solution anyway):
Angfhuv npghnyyl fnlf fur’f arire rire gbyq nalbar ure snibevgr frnfba rkprcg sbe gur srznyr freinag Funaaba lrnef ntb, naq guvaxf nobhg jurgure Funaaba pbhyq or pbafcvevat jvgu gur lbhat znyr pnyyre. Rkprcg Funaaba vf n ebyr cynlrq ol gur traqre-pbashfrq pebffqerffvat phycevg Lnfh (nybat jvgu gur ebyrf bs Xnaba & Orngevpr), fb gur thrff pbhyq unir orra onfrq ba abguvat ohg ure zrzbel bs orvat gbyq gung.
Crefbanyyl, rira vs V jnf va fhpu n cbfvgvba, V jbhyq fgvyy cersre hfvat gur pneq gevpx: jul pbhyqa’g Angfhuv unir punatrq ure zvaq bire gur lrnef? Be abg orra frevbhf va gur svefg cynpr? Be Funaaba unir zvferzrzorerq? rgp