Re: Peterson's Death Sentence

From: Parse Tree (account_at_domain.extension)
Date: 02/01/05 

Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 08:20:46 GMT

Noah Roberts wrote:
> Ok, I am going to tell a joke and then be done. This comes from a short
> Twilight Zone that came out in the 80's. The Simpsons also did a little
> spoof along similar lines.
>
> A mathematician is struggling to beat all on a highly complex formula
> and is reaching the end of his ropes. He cries out, "I would sell my
> SOUL to figure this out!" Immediately he hears a strange sort of woosh
> sound and turns around to see, you guessed it, The Devil.
>
> The man cries out, "Who the hell are you?" The devil replies, "I am
> Satan, Lord of the Underworld and Master of all domains. You said you
> would sell your soul to find the answer to that equation and so I am here."
>
> The man stammers, "But, but, that was just a figure of speech. I have
> no intention of selling my soul."
>
> "I am afraid it just doesn't work like that," explains the devil, "you
> called, I am here. Now you must battle me for possession of your
> eternal soul."
>
> "How do I do that?"
>
> "You must ask me a question I cannot answer or give me a task I cannot
> perform. You may now ask me three questions to help you at which point
> you must ask me the final question or assign me a task I cannot perform.
> And I must warn you, none since Plato have succeeded!"
>
> "Are you serious?!"
>
> "Yes, I am," The Devil answers with a big grin.
>
> "Hmm...," thinks the mathematician, "So what exactly do you know?"
>
> At this point The Devil proudly explains how there isn't anything
> humanly fathomable or otherwise that he is not fully versed in. He
> knows every language, every physical law, every mathematical property,
> he simply knows everything, there isn't a question he cannot answer, and
> is quite proud of this fact.
>
> "***," cries the man, "Well where can you go?"
>
> At this point The Devil goes into another spat of prideful boasting and
> explains how he can go all the way across the universe and back in an
> instant, he can travel to Heaven or to Hell and it is all the same.
> There isn't a place he can't go and there isn't a place he can't get
> back from anywhere in existence or otherwise, instantly.
>
> "Man, this is hard."
>
> "Now," asserts The Devil, "Now you must ask me a question I cannot
> answer or assign me a task I cannot perform or I get your soul."
>
> The man cries out, "But I still have one more question!"
>
> "No," explains The Devil, "You asked three questions already, the first
> was, 'Are you serious?'"
>
> "Fucking hell!" cries out the man.
>
> "Exactly!" grins The Devil, "Now, ask me a question I cannot answer or
> give me a task I cannot perform."
>
> The man thinks it over as The Devil gets more and more impatient. "If
> you cannot ask me a question I cannot answer or give me a task I cannot
> perform then you forfeit and I get to take your soul into hell and
> eternal torment."
>
> "Wait!", cries the man, "I got it!"
>
> "Well?" asks The Devil.
>
> The man steps forward, looks The Devil right in the eye and says, "GET
> LOST!"
>
> At this The Devil lets out an ear shattering scream and shrinks away
> back into Hell where he came from. The mathematician lets out a short,
> "Hmph," turns around, and goes back to work trying to find the answer to
> the equation he was working on.

Why didn't he just ask what to ask? Or ask what Plato asked?

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