AAA game with philosophical twist

I saw the following apparently chain-letter game posted on a friend’s Facebook page and I had some fun playing it.

*******

Whats wrong here

AAA
BBB
CCC
DDD
EEE
FFF
GGG
HHH
III
JJJ
KKK
LLL
MMM
NNN
OOO
PPP
QQQ
RRR
SSS
TTT
UUU
VVV
WWW
XXX
YYY
ZZZ

Did you know that 80% of UCSD students could not find the error above?

*******

Now, I am glad I found the “problem” without needing to cheat. (smile)

But let me throw in a philosophical twist here. I believe that in the long run, and without giving away the solution, the “problem” shown above will disappear because of the evolving nature in that area. Sorry for being very vague as I don’t want to give the solution away and spoil the fun for others. (smile)

Irregardless of what I argued, some people may maintain the “problem” should always stay as a “problem” but that debate will take some time. (smile)

P.S. Incidentally, I dropped a strong hint of the philosophical underpinning of my argument in this posting. You may not have noticed it right away. But you may see what I meant after watching this lovely and insightful Google Talk video.

P.P.S. “Ignoring bad things and hoping they go away is a strategy of failure.” “It is worst to ignore than it is to warn.” Finally here is my “philosophical underpinning” and what I learned from the master, “Most people who are very careful, make this distinction. But most people aren’t very careful. [... So things go from] being wrong all the time. To being wrong some of the time. To not being wrong. And this is a process that can take a long long time.” - Erin McKean (for sure to check out her Google Talk video)

*******

Dec 3rd Update: I am aware of the different variations of this game and I even try to create a new one (which I later found had already been created by someone else). My friend and I are going to chat some more about this game tomorrow over our planned coffee meeting.

I may write a follow up post if I can find the time. (smile)

Dec 5th Update: I had a great meeting with my friend yesterday where we chatted about a wide range of things and including this game. We may write a joint paper/blog entry on this. Please read more here.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

This entry was posted on Sunday, 2 December, 2007 at 12:21 am and is filed under Fun, Game. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

28 Responses to “AAA game with philosophical twist”

  1. Julia Says:
    Monday, 3 December, 2007 at 9:20 pm

    I think I know what this is about. But I’m going to be lame and say that [K: ... correct answer removed ...].

  2. kempton Says:
    Monday, 3 December, 2007 at 10:12 pm

    Hi Julia,

    You’ve got the same answer as I did. I hope you found it fun to play. I certainly did and I am going to chat with a friend about this game as he has another take of this whole thing.

    Best Regards,
    Kempton

  3. terraflora Says:
    Wednesday, 5 December, 2007 at 12:56 pm

    apparently i need more hints! aaarrgghhh

  4. kempton Says:
    Wednesday, 5 December, 2007 at 1:15 pm

    Hi terraflora,

    Here is another hint in the “P.S.” For those that don’t want to know, please skip this comment.

    Regards,
    Kempton

    P.S. Hint: think of what magicians do when they show you a magic.
    P.P.S. If you are still stuck, email me, and I will give you an “almost” answer which you should be able to “solve” for yourself (a bit with some aid by a tool).

  5. kempton Says:
    Wednesday, 5 December, 2007 at 6:11 pm

    terraflora sent this problem in an email and I hope she doesn’t mind I post it here to share.
    *******
    May I ask you… if you have ever seen the following one before? (I had it told to me from someone who’d come across it on an office whiteboard). I’ve decided what the right answer is (according to me), but one friend came up with another (which, dang, I can’t remember now), but I’ve never been able to find it anyplace else:

    Thiss ssentence hass five misstakes.

    Can you find them?

    It would be great to know what you think…

    THANKS AGAIN!

  6. kempton Says:
    Wednesday, 5 December, 2007 at 6:21 pm

    Hi terraflora,

    Here is my take. The first four mistakes are the extra letter “s” in the words. The fifth one is the word five. Which strictly speaking should be changed to “four”.

    But here is the debatable point. Once you fix the four mistakes, there are actually no mistakes. The problem is that the sentence refers to problem about itself.

    Now, have I confused you yet?

    If not, this may finally confuse you because in an important Mathematical result proven in 1931 by Kurt Godel. It is called “Gödel’s incompleteness theorems“.

    Try to read what you understand and skip everything else. I had fun when I studied that at school.

  7. terraflora Says:
    Wednesday, 5 December, 2007 at 7:09 pm

    kempton,
    That is exactly the answer I came up with! [How smnart you are!!] (And I comfort myself in that the question does not ask you to FIX the problems, ergo, four mistakes stay as four mistakes. Or I guess five mistakes stay five mistakes??? ow - hurt my head now..)

    Off I go to read from your Godel link!! (A favorite book I never finished: Godel, Escher & Bach!)

    thanks!

  8. kempton Says:
    Thursday, 6 December, 2007 at 8:29 am

    Hi terraflora,

    Ha ha, I have never finished “Godel, Escher & Bach” as well. But I have read the biography of Kurt Godel when I was in school. I think Godel is a genius of the first order but may be also a troubled man at the same time. Fortunately, he has good friends like Albert Einstein and John Von Neumann to keep company with him.

    Cheers.

  9. Norwood Says:
    Friday, 7 December, 2007 at 12:22 pm

    Only thing that I see wrong is improper punctuation. There is no apostrophe in the word What(’)s

  10. kempton Says:
    Friday, 7 December, 2007 at 12:57 pm

    Hi Norwood,

    You got it. I left your answer up because I think enough days have passed and it is deep down enough so it is not much a spoiler. Plus, for the determined, they would have googled and found the answer long ago.

    Thanks for your comment.
    Kempton

  11. Kim Haugen Says:
    Friday, 7 December, 2007 at 5:21 pm

    So the answer is the missing ‘ ?
    All the AAA, BBB, CCC ++ is just to cunfuse people to think the error is among these lines, but it’s really in the first sentence “Whats wrong here”?

    Have seen this in different versions, with numbers, only one letter etc.
    111,222,333
    1,2,3
    A,B,C

    But all have the same topic, or the same type of error in the topic.
    “What’s the error? Its impossible” etc.

  12. kempton Says:
    Friday, 7 December, 2007 at 6:41 pm

    Hi Kim,

    Yeah, you got it. Kelly said it right, the AAA BBB CCC are what magicians do to distract you. (smile)

    Hope you had fun. Mind you, this thing should still be classified as a chain-mail/virus.

    Cheers,
    Kempton

  13. tom Says:
    Sunday, 9 December, 2007 at 4:24 am

    Lame…!

  14. kempton Says:
    Sunday, 9 December, 2007 at 5:20 am

    Hi Tom,

    Once you know what the “solution” is, it is actually pretty lame. But the problem is that by then, lots of unsuspecting people might have passed along this “chain-letter/email” already.

    Kempton

  15. Steven Says:
    Tuesday, 11 December, 2007 at 8:35 am

    Somebody posted it on my facebook and actually fixed the typo since he didn’t know that was the anwser

    pretty stupid ‘game’ anyway…

  16. kempton Says:
    Tuesday, 11 December, 2007 at 10:34 am

    Hi Steven,

    It is a pretty lame game in some way. But it is a super ingenious “chain-letter/virus” as both my friend Kelly and I contend.

    Regards,
    Kempton

  17. Eva Says:
    Wednesday, 19 December, 2007 at 9:55 am

    So when you say it is a ‘problem’ that, in the long run, will disappear because of the evolving nature in that area, I think that could be applied to 2 different answers that come up. For instance, the fact that it has the KKK in it can apply to this because obviously this doesn’t mean nearly as much as it did several years ago. Or the second issue, the fact that learning proper English doesn’t matter anymore and how we don’t even notice the errors. Obviously one is much more severe than the other, but I think that either problem is a valid answer - as well as fit in with your little hints.

  18. kempton Says:
    Wednesday, 19 December, 2007 at 10:13 am

    Dear Eva,

    Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I have to say I never picked up the KKK connection but it doesn’t have the meaning it used to have any more. (and I have heard that KKK was essentially laugh and ridicule out of existence, which is a good thing)

    Think the two pronunciations of tomato, is one more “correct” or “proper” than the other? I don’t think so, they are just different. The way I see language is it is a constantly evolving “being”. The fact that millions and millions of us using the English language is subtly changing it everyday bit by bit, a small chuck at a time.

    When millions are spelling or using something wrong, a dictionary, if it wants to stay relevant and useful, will have to adapt and reflect the changes.

    If you haven’t watched the Google talk (linked above) by Erin McKean, (American lexicographer, Chief Consulting Editor for American Dictionaries at Oxford University Press), I highly recommend it. It was fun for me to watch and I learned so much.

    Best Regards,
    Kempton

  19. kempton Says:
    Wednesday, 19 December, 2007 at 10:19 am

    Dear Eva,

    No one has catch this yet. But my use of the word “Irregardless” was another hint. If you look up “Irregardless” in the dictionary, you will find that it means the same as “regardless”.

    http://m-w.com/dictionary/Irregardless

    When “ir-ZZZ” means the same as “ZZZ”, that alone should make our heads spin but we don’t because the English language grow with us.

    Kempton

  20. Gregory Says:
    Saturday, 22 December, 2007 at 8:49 pm

    Every letter has it’s own sigtnificant importance. Grouped together, even of it’s own kind, can make a drastic difference. They will stand out in our minds as we read them. For example, HHH may mean something to the avid wrestling watching knuckle head (Triple-H). XXX may stand out for those that are addicted to porn, or that really likes Vin Deisel. WWW for the internet, AAA insurance company, KKK for the former Ku Klux Klan. But the association of the letters with our lives tends to automatically make us focus on the bad.

    For most, noticing KKK first. Whether noticing it first or not, it produces thoughts and feelings. Discrimination, racism, or prejudice, which ever word you choose. One may argue that the problem is it plays the race card. Did a white man write it? Did a black man write it? Was it even a man at all?

    One may argue that the grouped letters are trying to say that, “they are back”! Saying that someone has put KKK back together again.

    Of all of the letters grouped only one letter that stands out with any real power or influence and it’s the K. What’s wrong? The negative attention that it draws to itself and the negative impact and affect it has on people is the problem. KKK gets more attention because of it’s history. That’s my theory.

  21. kempton Says:
    Saturday, 22 December, 2007 at 9:45 pm

    Hi Gregory,

    Thanks for your interesting take on the letters sequence. Yours are definitely grounded in well discussed rationales.

    My solution to it is simply the word “whats” is grammatically wrong and should have been “what’s” instead.

    I’ve seen the reasoning for KKK but not the others. Thanks again for your take on this issue.

    Of course, another take by my friend and I is that this whole game thing is in fact a “virus/chain-letter” that managed to waste our time endlessly. (smile)

    Regards,
    Kempton

  22. abbi Says:
    Tuesday, 25 December, 2007 at 9:33 pm

    tthe “thiss ssentence hass five misstakes” was pretty obvious

    the fifth mistake was that there are only four mistakes xD

  23. kempton Says:
    Tuesday, 25 December, 2007 at 9:53 pm

    Thanks Abbi for playing.

    Kempton

  24. Gregory Says:
    Tuesday, 25 December, 2007 at 10:10 pm

    Yes, I agree. Grammar was the class the author slept through. Not only is the apostrophe missing but, so is the question mark.

    Needless to say, anyone could argue that the real problem here is that the author has a serious learning disablity, along with a speech impediment. Disgraphia, and studdering.

    Gregory

  25. kempton Says:
    Tuesday, 25 December, 2007 at 10:18 pm

    Hi Gregory,

    Thanks for your feedback and ideas.

    Ultimately my friend Kelly and I think that this “game” is indeed a chain-mail/virus that simply spread like wild fire and ended up wasting people lots of time. Tools in the social networking sites (like Facebook) are helping the spread of this virus.

    Regards,
    Kempton

  26. KLEIN MINE Says:
    Monday, 5 May, 2008 at 2:40 pm

    ANSWER:

    There’s no question mark in the question.
    :)

  27. Chris Says:
    Friday, 16 May, 2008 at 5:33 am

    Hmmm, after playing this game, i’ve come up with a different answer. The question says: What’s wrong with this? (regardless of the ‘ or the ? - klein mine’s solution).

    Well, reading the letters over and over again my answer to the question was “nothing”.

    Any thoughts on this?

    Chris

  28. kempton Says:
    Friday, 16 May, 2008 at 7:42 am

    Hi Chris,

    A reader (Norwood) and I posted the answer on the Dec 7th comment in this entry. Feel free to check it out.

    Cheers,
    Kempton

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