PUBLIC TALK:
  One Hundred Prisoners and a Lightbulb
		
Wed, 22 Feb 2017 18:00 - Woolnough Lecture Theatre, Geology Building
		
A public lecture by Hans van Ditmarsch, Senior Researcher, Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique, France.

Consider this riddle: "A group of 100 prisoners, all together in the
prison dining area, are told that they will be all put in isolation
cells and then will be interrogated one by one in a room containing a
light with an on/off switch. The prisoners may communicate with one
another by toggling the light-switch (and that is the only way in which
they can communicate). The light is initially switched off. There is no
fixed order of interrogation, or interval between interrogations, and
the same prisoner will be interrogated again at any stage. When
interrogated, a prisoner can either do nothing, or toggle the light-
switch, or announce that all prisoners have been interrogated. If that
announcement is true, the prisoners will (all) be set free, but if it is
false, they will all be executed. While still in the dining room, and
before the prisoners go to their isolation cells (forever), can the
prisoners agree on a protocol that will set them free?"

Dr van Ditmarsch's talk will present a solution, however his talk will
mainly address such puzzles of knowledge in general. There are many
others, such as the ‘Muddy Children Puzzle’ (also known as the
‘Wisemen Puzzle’), ‘Surprise Examination’, ‘Monty Hall’,
etc. They often involve a (seemingly) paradoxical aspect making agents
knowledgeable by announcements of their ignorance. There is a relation
with the area in logic known as ‘dynamic epistemic logic’.

Hans van Ditmarsch is a senior researcher at CNRS (the French National
Research Organization), and based at LORIA in Nancy, where he is heading
the research team CELLO (Computational Epistemic Logic in Lorraine). He
is currently an Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow at The
University of Western Australia, working with Dr Tim French, Senior
Lecturer in Computer Science and Software Engineering.
		
URL: http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/van-ditmarsch
		
For more information:
  Institute of Advanced Studies
  ias@uwa.edu.au
  6488 1340

Starts       : Wed, 22 Feb 2017 18:00
Ends         : Wed, 22 Feb 2017 19:00
		
Last Updated : Mon, 06 Feb 2017 09:31