
Raymond Smullyan has died - kawera
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/11/us/raymond-smullyan-dead-puzzle-creator.html?pagewanted=all
======
yequalsx
When I was an undergraduate I met Raymond at a math conference in Minnesota.
We talked about logic, religion, and philosophy at the reception the first
night. The next morning he sees me and runs over to me. He said,

"I invented a new religion for you last night. God has a number in mind. If
the sum total of all good acts minus the sum total of all bad acts exceeds
this number then everyone goes to heaven. Otherwise, everyone goes to hell.
Imagine then. Something you do could send everyone to hell."

I'm sad to hear of his passing.

~~~
BoysenberryPi
Wow this is such a wholesome thing to say. I have no idea who this guy is but
I now regret never meeting him.

~~~
athom
Myself, as well. It's been some time since I last read his books, but his name
crossed my mind a few times in the last few years, and I'd wondered if he
could actually still be around.

Wish I've looked into that sooner.

------
jballanc
"The Lady or the Tiger" is, quite literally, probably the single most
influential book from my childhood. In 6th grade, my math teacher had a copy
in his classroom. He noticed that I spent so much time before class, after
class, (during class) reading it, that at the end of the school year he told
me I could take it home so long as I promised to bring it back at the end of
the summer. (He was also the 7th and 8th grade math teacher.)

I took that book home and treasured it for the whole summer, pouring over each
puzzle, solving each one without peeking at the answers, then comparing my
answers to the ones in the back of the book. By the end of the summer I think
there were only 1 or 2 I hadn't been able to work out myself. Sure enough, as
the first day of 7th grade rolled around, it was in my backpack and promptly
returned to the shelf of my math teacher's classroom. Satisfied that I had
gotten all I could from "The Lady or the Tiger", I next turned my attention to
the Apple IIe he had sitting in the corner and a book entitled "Apple Basic".

The rest, as they say, is history.

One final note...as I continued through school and university, I gradually
came to realize that Taoism was the school of philosophy that matched most
closely to how I understood the world and is, in some sense, the closest thing
I have to a "religion". It wasn't until much later in life (well after I
turned 30), that I happened to stumble back across Smullyan and his writings,
only to discover that he was also a rather adroit Taoist philosopher. (His "Is
God a Taoist?" essay,
[http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTao...](http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTaoist.html)
is _highly_ recommended.)

To this day I wonder if "The Lady or the Tiger" didn't have more of an impact
on my early development than simply fostering a love of logic...

~~~
chki
Thank you a lot for linking the "Is God a Taoist?" Essay. For somebody as
young and easily influenced as me (who is currently not very involved in
philosophy and religion) it might actually have a great impact on my
understanding of both - or at least it is an excellent starting point for
further thoughts on the subject.

~~~
mercer
If this interests you I can highly recommend the book 'Trying Not To Try'!

------
conistonwater
I loved the puzzle books, even though I wasn't very good at the puzzles. The
titbit about his wife is this story
([https://magazine.uchicago.edu/9506/June95BOBProfiles.html](https://magazine.uchicago.edu/9506/June95BOBProfiles.html),
NYT left out the actual puzzle)

> _Smullyan admits the following puzzle might have come in handy had he
> designed it before meeting his wife._

> _" I'll make a statement. If the statement is true, you give me your
> autograph. It doesn't have to be on a check, it can be on a blank piece of
> paper. If the statement is false, you don't give me your autograph,"
> Smullyan sets up the puzzle. "Well, my statement is, `You will give me
> neither your autograph nor a kiss.'_

And his puzzles always came with variations, like this
([http://blog.tanyakhovanova.com/2010/05/raymond-smullyans-
mag...](http://blog.tanyakhovanova.com/2010/05/raymond-smullyans-magic-
trick/)):

> _Afterwards, Raymond Smullyan joined me in the elevator. “Do you want to see
> a magic trick?” he asked. “I bet I can kiss you without touching you.” I was
> caught off guard. At that moment I believed anything was possible. I agreed
> to the bet._

> _He asked me to close my eyes, kissed me on the cheek and laughed, “I
> lost.”_

And this bit from the preface to _The Lady or the Tiger_ aptly summarizes most
people's attitude towards maths:

> _Before he called the boy to the phone, the father said to me in soft
> conspiratorial tones: "He is reading your book and loves it! But when you
> speak to him, don't let him know that what he is doing is math, because he
> hates math! If he had any idea that this is really math, he would stop
> reading the book immediately!"_

------
cperciva
The New York Times says that Raymond Smullyan is dead? I'm not sure I believe
it.

If I asked CNN whether Fox News would answer "da" if asked whether Smullyan is
dead, would they answer "ja"?

~~~
yequalsx
I don't think people get the reference. Your post was in good taste. For those
who don't understand look up the hardest logic puzzle.

~~~
dtornabene
seconded.

------
mvanveen
Coming across _The Tao is Silent_ in college changed my life forever. I've
subsequently recommended it to select friends who seemed like they'd benefit
from it and they've reported back and told me the book has had similar effects
within their life. When I introduce Smullyan to people I explain that he is
basically an IRL gandalf math/spirituality wizard.

I just picked up _A Spiritual Journey_ and _Set Theory And The Continuum
Problem_ several weeks back. Both of these books feel like they are personal,
and direct mathematical and spiritual conversations that are directed towards
an audience very much like myself. I told my dad (a practicing amateur number
theorist) a few weeks back that the set theory book in particular made me feel
like I'd found a mathematical topic (foundations of logic) that really spoke
to me and even the first few chapters had clarified some confusion within the
area that I'd been carrying for years.

This feels much like I felt a few weeks ago when I found myself regretting
that I'd never sent Obama a letter during his presidency and would never get
the chance again.

Godspeed Professor Smullyan and thank you for everything you shared with us
along the journey!

PS thank you to everyone in this thread who has shared their connection to
this wonderful man, it's really heartening to find some community amidst this
loss.

~~~
Chris2048
> I found myself regretting that I'd never sent Obama a letter during his
> presidency and would never get the chance again

As one door closes, another opens. You have the chance to send Trump a letter.

------
pjungwir
My favorite Smullyan book is out of print: _Forever Undecided: A Puzzle Guide
to Gödel_. Gödel's paradoxical theory hooked me in college, and after twenty
years I still can't help but feel that it has a message for us---not in the
word-play associations that some philosophers mistreat such things, but more
in its implications for the human mind and artificial intelligence, along the
lines that Roger Penrose explores. I've read Franzén's rejection of all
attempts to "apply" Gödel's proof, and yet, I keep coming back to the idea
that we can see our way "out" of these limited systems.

Anyway, Smullyan's book is a real treat. In the later chapters he even goes
beyond Gödel. I've never completely figured out how much of that is Smullyan
and how much is other published research.

------
mhartl
One of my favorite Smullyan works is the lesser-known _5000 B.C. and Other
Philosophical Fantasies_. Here's one of the more amusing anecdotes from that
book:

In item #249 of my book of logic puzzles titled _What Is the Name of This
Book?_ , I describe an infallible method of proving anything whatsoever. Only
a magician is capable of employing the method, however. I once used it on
[noted philosopher] Rudolph Carnap to prove the existence of God.

"Here you see a red card," I said to Professor Carnap as I removed a card from
the deck. "I place it face down in your palm. Now you know that a false
proposition implies _any_ proposition. Therefore, if this card were black,
then God would exist. Do you agree?"

"Oh, certainly," replied Carnap, " _if_ the card were black, then God would
exist."

"Very good," I said as I turned over the card. "As you see, the card _is_
black. Therefore, God exists!"

"Ah yes!" replied Carnap in a philosophical tone. "Proof by legerdemain! Same
as the theologians use!"

------
eggy
His book 'The Lady or the Tiger' came at a pivotal point in my life in my
early forties, actually helped lift me out of a deep depression upon being
separated from my children. I had planned to write him to see if I could visit
him, but never did. He inspired me, and has touched my children's lives as
well. A great human being. I'm saddened upon waking to this news. I had hoped
the NYT was an errant knight in this case.

------
jacobolus
Relevant here, anyone interested in combinatory logic (functional programming,
etc.) should check out _To Mock a Mockingbird_. It’s a lovely puzzle book
which teaches the subject through direct experience.

Folks also might enjoy _The Magic Garden of George B_. (And of course, all of
Smullyan’s other books.)

------
smaili
_His philosophy of teaching was a little puzzling. “My policy is to teach the
student as much as possible and to require from him or her as little as
possible,” he told Donald Albers and Gerald Alexanderson, the authors of
“Mathematical People: Profiles and Interviews” in 2008.

But, he added, the impact of his apparent lenience was that many of his
students worked harder in his course than in any other._

Would love to see more studies around this methodology and its impact on
students. Not only an incredible professor, but an innovative _teacher_. Rest
in peace!

------
andybak
I can't remember if it was via reading Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett,
William Poundstone (or someone writing in a similar vein) that I came across
Smullyan but his name cropped up in many things that have captivated me over
the years.

This dialogue is absolutely marvellous:
[http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTao...](http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTaoist.html)

~~~
huxley
It might have been Hofstadter and Dennett's "The Mind's I" which includes both
"Is God a Taoist?" and "An Unfortunate Dualist"

~~~
andybak
Yep. That was it. I still have a copy. Amazing book - even if I'm not sure I
agree with either of them on the nature of consciousness any more.

------
kolodny
One of my favorite books is the "The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes" which
describes a technique called retrograde analysis

[https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Mysteries-Sherlock-Holmes-
Recre...](https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Mysteries-Sherlock-Holmes-
Recreational/dp/0486482014)

~~~
tunesmith
I found this book _after_ reading The Flanders Panel, a thriller novel that
also uses retrograde chess analysis. Both great books.

------
wpietri
Some years back, I worked in a library. Having loved one of Smullyan's books,
I searched for more. One book that came up didn't have a title in the system.
Puzzled, I wrote down the call number, went to the shelf, and grabbed the
book. It was "This Book Needs No Title". Clearly whoever added it to the
catalog was inspired by Smullyan's prankster ways.

------
sajid
I'm surprised to learn that he's from Far Rockaway (just like Feynman). I had
assumed he was British for some reason.

~~~
pasquinelli
could it be that he looked like dumbledore?

[http://mesosyn.com/mental1-6raymond.jpg](http://mesosyn.com/mental1-6raymond.jpg)

------
teraflop
One of my favorite pieces of Smullyan's writing is "Planet Without Laughter":
[http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/smullyan.html](http://www-cs-
faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/smullyan.html)

~~~
throw_away
Here's my favorite, "Is God a Taoist?":
[http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTao...](http://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/godTaoist.html)

~~~
placebo
My favorite too, and also my first encounter with his writings. Read it back
in the eighties as it was one of the writings discussed in "The Mind's I". It
was exactly the type of initial clarification I needed to read at the time and
definitely shaped my understanding on what the term "God" might point to at a
time when all the other options seemed petty and infantile to a curious and
perplexed teenager.

Wow. Sad to hear about his passing. He set the initial path for much of my
subsequent interests.

~~~
strait
That's also in his book "The Tao is Silent". I picked this book off the
library shelf at random, so many years ago, and couldn't stop reading the
lovely, approachable writing. He helped me think through and finally rid
myself of all the fundy Christian mental baggage leftover from when I was a
kid.

------
chris_st
I own a few of his puzzle books, and even have solved some of their puzzles.

Some are so amazingly difficult that it's hard to understand how someone could
be that smart.

Couple that with what everyone I've ever heard say about him, the person...
that he was a wonderful, caring generous man.

Amazing.

------
505
Challenged by _What Is the Name of This Book_ but loved it.

If Hofstadter hadn't changed my life forever, maybe Smullyan would have.

------
brw12
I don't have much to add, except that when I read his books -- for me, the
ones I fell in love with were The Lady or the Tiger, What is the Name of this
Book? and To Mock a Mockingbird -- I felt I was communing with a spirit for
whom wit, delight, charm and generosity were one. I'm delighted, and not a bit
surprised, to hear he had this sort of presence in person.

~~~
brw12
OH YEAH also Alice in Puzzleland! That might be the very best. Highest
possible recommendation.

------
sbt
Smullyan's book on First-Order Logic is still the best textbook I have ever
read in any subject. I wish more people would write as succinctly as he did.

[http://store.doverpublications.com/0486683702.html](http://store.doverpublications.com/0486683702.html)

------
fatagun
I have taken classes from fitting and joined colloquiums from Raymond. Learned
a lot from them. RIP.

------
aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA
In high school I enjoyed reading "What Is the Name of This Book?" Lots of fun.

[https://archive.org/details/WhatIsTheNameOfThisBook](https://archive.org/details/WhatIsTheNameOfThisBook)

------
nocoder
This is why I love coming to HN. Once in a while you discover something really
beautiful. I come from India & never heard of Raymond Smullyan, but I just
discovered his wonderful puzzles & writings. Thanks.

~~~
mercer
Same here. I spent a full day reading the various articles linked to from this
thread, and buying/reading his book on Taoism and more. HN at its best!

------
andrzejsz
Why publishers of his books are not publishing in some ebook platforms at
least some of them like "to mock mocking bird" or I fail to find it on amazon
kindle or google ebooks

~~~
rogulogu
[https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Raymond_M_Smully...](https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Raymond_M_Smullyan_To_Mock_a_Mocking_Bird?id=NyF1kvJhZbAC)

~~~
andrzejsz
Thanks although not available in the uk unfortunately

------
nemo1618
Given what I know of Smullyan, my guess is that he died very gracefully.
Perhaps he was even looking forward to venturing into the great Unknown.
Godspeed.

------
mrcactu5
this is very sad. I live blocks from Lehman college but that was a few decades
before my time (if he taught in 1979). Unrelated, there is also Melvyn Nathan
who does additive combinatorics.

------
hyperpallium
The Tao is Silent.

------
known
RIP, Sir

