I decided to post a question for the purpose of baiting, but what I got was a surprise and a two hour long conversation on Omegle. These two gentlemen muse on about my inane questions for about two hours until they realized that they came to an answer. I bring to you the problem that they dubbed, in complete, unedited, and unabridged form: Omegle's Cat. Enjoy:
You're now watching two strangers discuss your question!
Question to discuss: Do you ever feel bad cutting off Stranger 2, Stranger 1? What if Stranger 2 has a very interesting tale to tell and you just cut him or her off by disconnecting? How rude, Stranger 1!
Stranger 2: i wonder which stranger i am
Stranger 1: as do i
Stranger 1: this is something of a conundrum as I am unsure of being stranger 1 or 2
Stranger 2: does the colour code make any difference at all?
Stranger 1: you are always blue and the stranger is always red
Stranger 2: hmmm
Stranger 2: that makes it even more vague
Stranger 2: waw
Stranger 2: the only person that knows it the SPY
Stranger 1: yes therefore this question is at an impasse
Stranger 1: i hereby request an adjournment
Stranger 2: but the SPY will never be able to tell us
Stranger 2: this conversation is in a way a paradox
Stranger 1: not a paradox as there is a solution
Stranger 1: but not one that we are aware of
Stranger 2: pray tell
Stranger 1: clearly the asker knows who between us is stranger 1 or stranger 2
Stranger 2: by now i have more questions than answers
Stranger 1: however we do not have the ability to divine that information from what we have available
Stranger 1: as the only constant that either of us are aware of is that we are identified as you and stranger
Stranger 2: hmmm
Stranger 2: unless one of us can hack
Stranger 1: well that would break the game
Stranger 2: well that takes away the solution
Stranger 1: cheating to find the answer is not finding the answer at all i think
Stranger 2: u made an interesting point eariler
Stranger 2: "there is a solution, but one one that we are aware of"
Stranger 2: does that apply to EVERY problem to the world?
Stranger 1: it likely could
Stranger 2: like for example an ethical dilema
Stranger 1: an ethical dillema imho is going to vary by point of view
Stranger 2: there's always a 3rd choice that we dont know of yet?
Stranger 1: which is the heart of the matter here, we lack the point of view to be able to tell if i am stranger 1 or you are stranger 1
Stranger 1: but someone else outside the discussion has perfect clarity on that matter
Stranger 2: but we are limited by the system to understand that truth
Stranger 1: how true
Stranger 2: so logically speaking, to reach the truth, one must rid the system
Stranger 2: so hacking wouldn't be cheating, it would be a solution
Stranger 1: or change the system entirely
Stranger 2: a part of a solution
Stranger 1: even though outside the system you could be stranger 2, what if i decided that you were in fact stranger 1?
Stranger 2: or one of many solutions
Stranger 2: how about gambling and risk>
Stranger 2: a game of chance
Stranger 1: well from a gambling stand point you would know the odds from the start
Stranger 2: 50/50
Stranger 1: yes
Stranger 1: i could be right or wrong with an equal chance of either by saying that you were stranger 1
Stranger 1: the logical fallacy being that i would not know the result of my wager
Stranger 2: let's say I gamble to be stranger 2 and took the initiative to disconnect, I would'nt be antagonised, and it wouldn't be your fault in the eyes of the spy
Stranger 2: i see, knowledge is power
Stranger 2: ignorance is bliss
Stranger 1: if i were to be stranger 1 according to the question i think at this point it would be far past a point by which you would have been cut off
Stranger 2: if one of us do disconnect, would you force yourself into the mindset that you were the other stranger to enable peace in your mind, in other word comfortable?
Stranger 1: it would be irrelevant to me as the only variables known are you and stanger
Stranger 2: lol i think we may have discovered an omgele equivalent to Schrödinger's cat
Stranger 1: having a different point of view on things would change the perspective by which i evaluated the situationi
Stranger 1: interesting, that may well be true
Stranger 2: i am saving this for analysis, and conversation topics
Stranger 1: it seems our paths did cross again under more favorable circumstances to discuss something then
Stranger 2: well done SPY, you have created a meaningful topic on omegle
Stranger 1: i personally have no problem with you saving this conversation
Stranger 1: shame i will only be known to the outside world as either stranger, stranger 1 or stranger 2
Stranger 1: however another interesting solution may have been presented
Stranger 1: if this transcript were to be saved, then whose perspective would it have?
Stranger 2: unless SPY saves it too
Stranger 1: if it were seen from the original eyes of the spy then it would be known to us after the fact which one of us were in fact stranger 1 and stranger 2
Stranger 2: which we can only hope
Stranger 2: unless we give each other a title
Stranger 2: i may have found a solution
Stranger 2: but it relies on trust
Stranger 2: and hope
Stranger 2: if we give each other a title
Stranger 2: or say our names
Stranger 2: and each save the transcript
Stranger 2: as do the SPY if still around
Stranger 1: that would work only if the spy saved the transcript
Stranger 2: and post it on a certain location
Stranger 1: as likely ours would be only you and stranger still
Stranger 2: but not for the SPY's transcript
Stranger 1: true
Stranger 2: the only solution is our trust in the SPY would actually do this
Stranger 1: it would all hinge on the spy saving the transcript that they have
Stranger 1: either of us saving the transcript is itself irrelevant as our system does not reveal a stranger 1 or stranger 2
Stranger 2: i guess
Stranger 1: at least for the determination of who is stranger 1 and stranger 2
Stranger 1: as our perspective is you and stranger
Stranger 1: where the spy or anyone else on the outside would see us as stranger 1 and stranger 2
Stranger 2: well...
Stranger 2: what is your name?
Stranger 1: Frank Rizzo
Stranger 2: I'm Terry Cheung
Stranger 1: so now at least we have established outside this system who we are
Stranger 2: and if the transcript does get somewhere, we have left a mark in history
Stranger 1: the only remaining question being who is in fact stranger 1 or stranger 2
Stranger 1: and now that i think about it
Stranger 2: for now, we are limited to blind gambling
Stranger 1: if we were both to have answered the original question from the point of view of being stranger 1 then either way at least one of us is guaranteed to be correct in answering the question as stranger 1
Stranger 2: ha
Stranger 2: before any of us disconnect, we should give this problem a name
Stranger 1: well you brought up shrodingers cat before so would calling it an omegle cat be a decent name?
Stranger 2: ha
Stranger 2: thats perfect
Stranger 2: well i guess the quickest way out of this problem, is if one of us take a blind gamble as stranger 2 to disconnect
Stranger 2: even if we dont see an immediate result (depending IF they spy has done anything) it would be a win win/ win lose situation
Stranger 1: even if one did disconnect we would then only be idenfied further as the conversational partner
Stranger 2: so its the person who takes the initiative to disconnect is the one with 50/50 chance of losing
Stranger 1: which does not allow for a resolution of the dilemma
Stranger 1: well i would have no problem taking that risk
Stranger 1: but the way most of my sports betting has gone lately its almost guaranteed that i would be wrong
Stranger 2: lol neither do I, the outcome is meaningless, its the problem that's interesting
Stranger 1: true that does seem to be the heart of the matter
Stranger 2: so do it
Stranger 1: ok
Stranger 1: i rather enjoyed this discussioni
Stranger 2: so did I
Stranger 1 has disconnected