As you know there is a part in our show where we talk about lying. Audience members are on stage with us trying their best to lie about their drawings. It is a very fun part of the show. This is a picture that was drawn this weekend:
SAMSUNG
So based on the concept of lying, I thought it would be fun for all of you to try and decipher this riddle:
You are in a room with 2 doors, one will lead to paradise and the other will lead to misery. The 2 doors are identical and you do not know which door will lead to which. In front of each door is a computer. One will ALWAYS lie while the other ALWAYS speaks the truth.
You must ask ONE – and only one – question to find out which door leads to paradise or misery. Any type of question is ok, but it can be only one.
While you are thinking about this, look at these pictures of Tim Roth, the actor who played Cal Lightman in the TV Series “Lie to Me“. He is an expert at seeing people’s micro-expressions which give away what they are thinking and feeling and if they are lying.
But unfortunately with our riddle, you are asking the question to the computer and not a person so you will not see any micro-expression and the computer is unemotional.
So do you have the answer yet? If not, don’t read any further because here it is:
Answer: Go up to any computer and ask this question: “Will the OTHER computer tell me the left door is misery or paradise?”
If it is a LYING computer that you’re asking and the left door is paradise, it will say it is misery.
If it is a TRUTHFUL computer that you’re asking, and the left door is paradise, it will say misery also.
The truth is the opposite of whatever they say.
NPR did a story a few years ago about a scientist using an fMRI machine to detect lying. There is even a company called “No Lie” that will do them. They are calling it “truth verification technology”. This is the lie detection of the future.