:mu: /moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question
"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?". Assuming that you
have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer "yes"
is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and
then stopped, but "no" is worse because it suggests that you have
one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians
and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually "mu", a
Japanese word alleged to mean "Your question cannot be answered
because it depends on incorrect assumptions". Hackers tend to be
sensitive to logical inadequacies in language, and many have
adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word `mu' is
actually from Chinese, meaning `nothing'; it is used in
mainstream Japanese in that sense, but native speakers do not
recognize the Discordian question-denying use. It almost certainly
derives from overgeneralization of the answer in the following
well-known Rinzei Zen teaching riddle:
A monk asked Joshu, "Does a dog have the Buddha nature?"
Joshu retorted, "Mu!"
See also {has the X nature}, {AI Koans}, and Douglas
Hofstadter's "G"odel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid"
(pointer in the Bibliography in {Appendix C}).
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?". Assuming that you
have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer "yes"
is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and
then stopped, but "no" is worse because it suggests that you have
one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians
and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually "mu", a
Japanese word alleged to mean "Your question cannot be answered
because it depends on incorrect assumptions". Hackers tend to be
sensitive to logical inadequacies in language, and many have
adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word `mu' is
actually from Chinese, meaning `nothing'; it is used in
mainstream Japanese in that sense, but native speakers do not
recognize the Discordian question-denying use. It almost certainly
derives from overgeneralization of the answer in the following
well-known Rinzei Zen teaching riddle:
A monk asked Joshu, "Does a dog have the Buddha nature?"
Joshu retorted, "Mu!"
See also {has the X nature}, {AI Koans}, and Douglas
Hofstadter's "G"odel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid"
(pointer in the Bibliography in {Appendix C}).
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
Related:
- mu /moo/
The correct answer to the classic trick question
"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?".
Assuming that you have no wife or you have never... - How long have you stopped beating
your wife... - Q: Does a cow have Buddha
nature ? A:... - Jargon Coiner (#9)
An irregular feature that aims to give you advance warning of new jargon
that we've just made up.
* RHYMES WITH CYNICS: The final answer to any debate... - has the X nature: [seems to derive from Zen Buddhist koans of the
form "Does an X have the Buddha-nature?"] adj.
Common hacker construction for `is an X', used for... - bug n.
An unwanted and unintended property of a program or
piece of hardware,
esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym... - NAK: /nak/ [from the ASCII mnemonic for 0010101] interj.
1. On-line joke answer to {ACK}?: "I'm not here." ... - has the X nature
[seems to derive from Zen Buddhist koans
of the form "Does an X have the Buddha-nature?"] adj.
Common hacker construction for `is an X', used for... - Sometimes "mu" is the
answer...
