Principle Stash

Comic

Two rows. Top row, free text: a wavy blue signal passes through three robots and gets noisier after each, and the message written under it gets garbled, the robots going from happy to confused to dizzy. Refund approved for order 4411 becomes refund approved for order 441?, then refunds are proof of order 41, and finally Rufus adopted four llamas. Bottom row, typed answer: the same thing asked as a question, was the refund for order 4411 approved? yes or no. A signal on the yes line passes through three robots; after each it wobbles, then a small snap box with a step-function icon puts it back exactly on yes, ending in still yes. Caption: you can take a majority of three yeses, you cannot take a majority of three essays.

Broken Telephone

Mouseover text

A majority vote on three essays is called a book club.

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Appears in Reliable Machines From Unreliable Parts

Transcript

Free text. A wavy signal, noisier after each robot, carries a message down a line of three robots, happy, then confused, then seeing stars, and each one passes on a slightly worse version: “Refund approved for order 4411”, “Refund approved for order 441?”, “Refunds are proof of order 41”. It comes out as “Rufus adopted four llamas”.

Typed answer. The same thing asked as a question: “Was the refund for order 4411 approved? yes or no”. A signal on the “yes” line wobbles after each robot, and a snap box with a step-function icon puts it back on “yes” every time. It ends in “still yes”.

“You can take a majority of three yeses. You can’t take a majority of three essays.”