Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas,
Speaker 1: and monsters in time. One of my favorite films of
Speaker 1: all time is easily The fantasy musical Labyrinth, a movie
Speaker 1: that summons the combined creative talents of Jim Hinson, Brian Froud,
Speaker 1: Carrie Jones, David Bowie, Sarah Connolly, and composer Trevor Jones,
Speaker 1: just to name a few. While its predecessor film The
Speaker 1: Dark Crystal took its fantasy world creation incredibly seriously, Labyrinth
Speaker 1: leans more into pure musical fun and python esque absurdity.
Speaker 1: Now there's a lot of this flavor to discuss in Labor,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to talk specifically about the four guards
Speaker 1: that Sarah encounters as she makes her way across the
Speaker 1: Goblin King's labyrinth. They are doglike humanoid creatures that guard
Speaker 1: a pair of doors. They are either conjoined beings and
Speaker 1: therefore two guards, or they are affixed behind their signature
Speaker 1: shields in a way that allow for two beings per shield.
Speaker 1: Their absurd appearances of course, linked to their visual resemblance
Speaker 1: to double headed European playing cards, in which a king, queen,
Speaker 1: jack or joker is double bodied and double headed in
Speaker 1: such a way that the card can be discernible from
Speaker 1: either side of the table. According to St. Bindet and
Speaker 1: the Excellent Labyrinth Festiary, the heads of the left door
Speaker 1: guardian are Alf and Jim, while the heads of the
Speaker 1: right door are Ralph and Tim. When Sarah encounters the guardians,
Speaker 1: she quickly learns the rules concerning their doors. One door
Speaker 1: leads to the assle at the center of the labyrinth, where,
Speaker 1: of course, Sarah is trying to go in order to
Speaker 1: rescue her step brother Toby, while the other door leads
Speaker 1: to bum certain death. The lower heads have no idea
Speaker 1: which doors which, but the upper heads do, but Sarah
Speaker 1: is only permitted to ask one of them. Furthermore, one
Speaker 1: of the two guards always tells the truth, while the
Speaker 1: other one always lies, So Sarah faces a conundrum. How
Speaker 1: can she find out which door is which? How can
Speaker 1: she risk asking the wrong guard and being lied to.
Speaker 1: The scenario instantly invokes what is known as the liar's paradox.
Speaker 1: If a liar tells you they are lying, well, then
Speaker 1: they are telling the truth. Consider the statement quote, this
Speaker 1: sentence is a lie unquote. If that statement is true,
Speaker 1: then it's false. If it's false, then it's true. Oh mind. Sarah,
Speaker 1: of course, is a bright young woman and makes the
Speaker 1: short work of the guardians and their attempts to confuse her.
Speaker 1: As John Touri points out in the paper objective falsity
Speaker 1: is essential to lying an argument from convergent evidence published
Speaker 1: in philosophy studies. In one she engages in what is
Speaker 1: called answer laundering. If Sarah simply asked one of the
Speaker 1: guards which doors which, then it might be a true
Speaker 1: or untrue statement that she gets in return, and her
Speaker 1: chances therefore are no better than simply picking a door
Speaker 1: at random. Instead, she launders one answer through another tory
Speaker 1: explains quote by asking one guard whether the other guard
Speaker 1: would say that this door leads to success. Sarah deduced
Speaker 1: the correct one either she gets the truth about a
Speaker 1: lie or a lie about the truth. Whenever she has
Speaker 1: told yes, the correct answer is no, and whenever she
Speaker 1: has told no, the correct answer is yes. The truth
Speaker 1: and the lie dependably canceled each other out In scenario
Speaker 1: provided to restresses that lies cannot be true. Urry points
Speaker 1: out that the riddle of the Four Guards is a
Speaker 1: variant of the Knights and Naves logic puzzle from Raymond
Speaker 1: Smoleans publication What is the name of this book? The
Speaker 1: scenario in the book that closely resembles the scene from
Speaker 1: Labyrinth involves a knight and a nave otherwise indistinguishable. Who
Speaker 1: guard a fork in the road? Which road do you take?
Speaker 1: Dare you ask these two men, given that one is
Speaker 1: secretly a noble knight and the other secretly a vile nave,
Speaker 1: Only one of them is going to give you a
Speaker 1: good answer. The other one is going to lie to you.
Speaker 1: The solution again comes via answer laundry. Ask which path
Speaker 1: the other individual would say is the correct one. So
Speaker 1: this is how the Four Guards of Labyrinth work, unless
Speaker 1: I am lying, which I am not. Tune in for
Speaker 1: additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always,
Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow
Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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