2B

Bathhouse Blade System Analysis: In the period before the Fall of Ankh, a certain logic puzzle oft likened to the Spanish Prisoner Game of yore became popular amongste the robotic intellegances. In its essence, the problem went thus-

Two humans entered a bath-house, in which they steamed their forms clean and socialised with each other. Each had being promist that his sworn enemy would be vulnerable within, as weapons were prohibited by striktest law. Each also knew, thanks to the dilligence of their spies, that the other man was fully aware of the others intended presence. Thus did each man face a choice- dose he bring a concealed blade and seek to have his enemy killed, or does he inform the authoritize, thus having his enemy arrested, or does he do nothing? If his enemy brings a blade and he does not, he is doomd- 100% failure. If he brings a blade and so does his enemy, he has a chance- 50/50 split. If he brings a blade and is informed apon, he is forfiet to the law. If he brings a blade and his enemy does not, he is victorious- 100% success... and so on it went.

The appeal of this condumdrum was not in the numbers- every event in the problem is equally likely, thus being unassailable to Micro-Truth mathematics. The appeal lay in the higher intellegances ability to discuss the burgeoning realms of ethics, humour, linguistics and free will without mathamatical habituality interfering.

On a darker note, its applea also lay in the way the probleme parallelled the situation robots faced regards the Centers of Transcedent Learning as the Fall of Ankh appreached- to submerge yourself for the psychic repairs debguggings was to make oneself utterly vulnerable to Rag-111's purges and as the Magister became increasingly bitter and untrusting, informing on rival machines just before their defragging became an incrasingly popualr way to rid yourself blamelessly of enemies. More and more mechanoids were reprogrammed by the Oracles of the Merged Mentality and under the weight of Rag's disapproval.

- Precepts of Madness Forgotten

        See also: Fall of Ankh, The; Oracles of the Merged Mentality