Are You Smarter Than A Second Grader?
September 21st, 2007 -- by Augie De Blieck Jr.
I have a question:
Are peanuts living things?
If you use these two questions to determine if something is living, then it would seem “yes”:
* Do they use food?
* Do they grow?
We know there are SIX characteristics, but we’re dealing with seven year olds here. We only get two questions. We’ve eliminated planes with this definition, but are peanuts living? Are carrots?
(Do we need to ask about free will first?)
Bonus question: What are the three laws of robotics?
My wife thanks you in advance.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:21 pm
I am afraid I must retire my geek hat in shame. I could only list two laws off the top of my head.
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:51 am
Related question: is your hand a living thing? A peanut plant is a living thing, but a peanut separated from its plant is not, in and of itself, a living thing.
And I don’t remember the Three Laws verbatim, but I could paraphrase them easily enough, even though it’s been far too long since I’ve read any of Asimov’s robot stories. (The movie ‘I, Robot’, while enjoyable in its own summer-blockbuster way, doesn’t count.)