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When I was an undergraduate I met Raymond at a math conference in Minnesota. We talked about logic, religion, and philosophy at the reception the first night.

When I was an undergraduate I met Raymond at a math conference in Minnesota. We talked about logic, religion, and philosophy at the reception the first night. The next morning he sees me and runs over to me. He said, "I invented a new religion for you last night. God has a number in mind. If the sum total of all good acts minus the sum total of all bad acts exceeds this number then everyone goes to heaven. Otherwise, everyone goes to hell. Imagine then. Something you do could send everyone to hell." I'm sad to hear of his passing.

BoysenberryPi 10y ago
Wow this is such a wholesome thing to say. I have no idea who this guy is but I now regret never meeting him.
- athom 10y ago
  Myself, as well. It's been some time since I last read his books, but his name crossed my mind a few times in the last few years, and I'd wondered if he could actually still be around. Wish I've looked into that sooner.
xiphias 10y ago
Life is something like this, except that with more powerful weapons and means for making global warming over time, less and less bad acts are needed to send everybody to hell. Anyways, I loved reading his books as a child.
spaceboy 10y ago
Apparently this scene from The Labyrinth is based on the heaven/hell logic puzzle he devised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReFhu8KYbmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReFhu8KYbmU > Many of his logic problems are extensions of classic puzzles. Knights and Knaves involves knights (who always tell the truth) and knaves (who always lie). This is based on a story of two doors and two guards, one who lies and one who tells the truth. One door leads to heaven and one to hell, and the puzzle is to find out which door leads to heaven by asking one of the guards a question. One way to do this is to ask "Which door would the other guard say leads to hell?". This idea was famously used in the 1986 film Labyrinth. According to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan

BoysenberryPi 10y ago

Wow this is such a wholesome thing to say. I have no idea who this guy is but I now regret never meeting him.

athom 10y ago
Myself, as well. It's been some time since I last read his books, but his name crossed my mind a few times in the last few years, and I'd wondered if he could actually still be around. Wish I've looked into that sooner.

xiphias 10y ago

Life is something like this, except that with more powerful weapons and means for making global warming over time, less and less bad acts are needed to send everybody to hell. Anyways, I loved reading his books as a child.

spaceboy 10y ago

Apparently this scene from The Labyrinth is based on the heaven/hell logic puzzle he devised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReFhu8KYbmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReFhu8KYbmU > Many of his logic problems are extensions of classic puzzles. Knights and Knaves involves knights (who always tell the truth) and knaves (who always lie). This is based on a story of two doors and two guards, one who lies and one who tells the truth. One door leads to heaven and one to hell, and the puzzle is to find out which door leads to heaven by asking one of the guards a question. One way to do this is to ask "Which door would the other guard say leads to hell?". This idea was famously used in the 1986 film Labyrinth. According to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan