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… =)
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… =)