this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 97 points 10 months ago (6 children)

This is a self-referential paradox — a classic logic puzzle designed to be tricky. Let’s break it down:

Step-by-step analysis:

  1. How many choices? There are 4 possible answers, so if we pick one randomly, the chance of picking any specific one is 1 in 4 = 25%.

  2. How many answers say “25%”? Two.

  3. That means the probability of randomly choosing an answer that says “25%” is 2 in 4 = 50%.

  4. But if the correct answer is 50%, then only one option says “50%” — which is (c). So the probability of picking it at random is 1 in 4 = 25%, contradicting the idea that 50% is correct.

  5. If the correct answer is 25%, then two options say that — a and d. So the chance of picking one of those at random is 50%, not 25% — again a contradiction.

  6. Similarly, if 60% is correct (only one option), then the chance of picking it randomly is 25%, which again makes it incorrect.

Conclusion: Any choice leads to a contradiction. This is a self-referential paradox, meaning the question breaks logical consistency. There is no consistent correct answer.

[–] Applejuicy@feddit.nl 185 points 10 months ago (3 children)
[–] KammicRelief@lemmy.world 80 points 10 months ago (2 children)

haha yeah, I knew it at the "let's break it down:"
I was like.. I know this voice....

[–] josefo@leminal.space 21 points 10 months ago

"Conclusion:" was the final nail in the coffin

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

The motivation to do so confuses me. There's no karma to farm here.

[–] Siegfried@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Why not? Here upvotes do the same as karma in reddit. Absolutely nothing.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 10 months ago

Eh. On Reddit, karma was intended as an indicator of quality and authenticity. It was heavily flawed and abused by bots and propagandists.

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 3 points 10 months ago

It's still providing a correct explanation to people, I guess

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 17 points 10 months ago

Got it right though

[–] judgyweevil@feddit.it 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)
[–] br3d@lemmy.world 64 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's whatever browser or app you're using. It rendered as (c) for me... Bracket, c, bracket

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Well, parenthesis, and parenthesis, but yes

[–] cazssiew@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Parentheses can also be called (round) brackets, especially in the UK

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

ah, TIL, thanks

[–] neo2478@sh.itjust.works 17 points 10 months ago (4 children)

The em dash is a dead giveaway as well

[–] ProfessorProteus@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I try to use em dashes when I can, but I think they're used wrong in the comment above (IIRC they're not supposed to be surrounded by spaces, but I could be wrong). What tips me off is the unambiguously "LLM" narrative voice and structure ("let's break it down", followed by an ordered list). Not that a human can't type that, but sometimes it seems like ChatGPT is incapable of spitting out words in any other structure.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You’re right, en dashes would have been fine there. Em dashes don’t get spaced—and have specific grammatical uses too.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 10 months ago

counter—point ; noone will accuse u of being a Ai if your grammer is shitte in a precise mannor , thou they will gouge ther I:s out when trying to reed it

actually come to think of it, aren't homophones/alternate spellings a pretty good way to avoid AI stuff? since they have absolutely no concept of the sounds words make. though i suppose it'll only work until the models get trained on that data..

[–] Reyali@lemm.ee 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I used to use em dashes all the time and now I find myself rethinking my writing styles because of people like you and it’s obnoxious.

[–] JacksonLamb@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

AI has put me off writing lists.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I use em dashes all the time, but I don’t put a space on either side—I feel like that’s not the correct way to use one. If it is, I don’t wanna be correct.

[–] JacksonLamb@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 10 months ago

Heyo yee em—comrade

[–] Vespair@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months ago

Y'all have got to stop this shit. Real people use real grammar.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Can't tell if serious because entering ( c ) without the spaces is (c) in Firefox and other browsers.

Is it because the other letters don't have brackets? I don't use AI to know if that is a thing.

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 6 points 10 months ago
[–] ornery_chemist@mander.xyz 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

^dontthinkaboutitdontthinkaboutitdontthinkaboutit^

[–] Deepus@lemm.ee 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

...so like, which one you picking?

[–] MrShankles@reddthat.com 4 points 10 months ago

I would think that if you truly pick at random, it's still a 25% chance no matter how you cut it

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The comment - which isn't edited - uses (c).

Whatever client you use replaces/renders (c) [bracket c bracket] as ©.

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 10 months ago

Huh. I think it was just the web version of Lemmy. Weird choice by the Lemmy devs.