The barber paradox as bad technical writing

[kpreid]

In the unlikely event that you haven't heard of it already, the barber paradox is:

The barber [who is the only barber in town] shaves every man who does not shave himself. Does the barber shave himself?

Now, this can be considered just logically contradictory, or a gotcha (“the barber is a woman”). But how about considering it as a poorly-written specification? Under this principle I propose a correction:

The barber shaves every man who would not otherwise be shaved.

Comments

[brokenhut.livejournal.com]

I am even more confused by the ambiguity in your restatement than in the original.

Does it mean, "the barber shaves every man who has hair growth" or "the barber shaves every man who does not have alternative arrangements"? The second one was my initial reaction, but seems tautological --- "the barber shaves who the barber shaves".

[kpreid.livejournal.com]

The latter. It is not tautological in that it implies that no one goes unshaven.