nklein software

Another pursuit puzzle: Three crazed, robotic professors or, if you prefer, “spiders” try to chase down a psychic, but slightly faster student the “fly” along the edges of a tetrahedron. It’s easier, perhaps, to draw it out in the view at right below. Is there a strategy that allows the professors to catch their prey? Wait a sec– did we say the prey is SLOWER? Obviously one fast hunter can chase down slower prey, even if the prey knows exactly what’s coming… Wait another sec– isn’t the point that the professors are morons and robotic? Maybe we DID state the ... [Link]

Another Update Feb. 7 : I have a new piece up at IEEE Spectrum, explaining why I made this bet. Thanks to Rachel Courtland for soliciting the piece and for her suggestions improving it. Update: My $100,000 offer for disproving scalable quantum computing has been Slashdotted. Reading through the comments was amusing as always. The top comment suggested that winning my prize was trivial: “Just point a gun at his head and ask him ‘Convinced?’” For the record: no, I wouldn’t be, even as I handed over my money. And if you want to be a street thug, why limit ... [Link]