Logic Cassandra

[jack]

Logic Cassandra: No, don't bring the horse into the city! It has soldiers inside.
Trojans: Pshaw.
Logic Cassandra: Wait, I mean, sit on your hands all night, and nothing much will happen. No gods will give you a big pile of gold.
Trojans: Hah, no way you're putting one over on us. We'll sit here and take the gold, thanks.
Logic Cassandra: In fact, you're going to go on disbelieving everything I say.
Logic Cassandra: *level stare*

Comments

[liv]

I think Cassandra's curse is more complicated than that! She's cursed to always make accurate prophecies of doom, as well as never to be believed. I don't think "no gods will give you gold" counts as a prophecy of doom.

[conuly]

Cassandra could've tried that "lying" thing. Or possibly just the "keeping her mouth shut" thing, it couldn't've been worse.

[andrewducker]

"On account of which thing, when she prophesied true things, she was not believed." says one translation.

Which doesn't sound easy to get around, with logic, or otherwise.

[liv]

Also, trying to logic-chop your way out of a divine curse is pretty much the definitino of hubris. I can't imagine this sort of approach would go well for Cassandra.

[jack]

Nothing went well for Cassandra. Although now you say it, were there any myths where a god's curse massively backfired on them? That also sounds quite myth-y.

[jack]

I think it depends whether "not be believed" means "people will generally not listen to you and not take you seriously" or "will literally not believe the thing you say". I think the first is probably much more accurate, but I just like imagining the second. (After all, you might as well try.)

[andrewducker]

If it's "literally not believe the thing you say" it's still only when she "prophesied true things". So she can say false things all she likes and people will believe/not believe those as usual.

[jack]

Sorry, yes, I meant, a prophecy, I chose examples that were true prophecies.

[simont]

And even if Logic Cassandra lacks that aspect of Real Cassandra's curse, so that she is solely cursed to be disbelieved but still has free will about what to say, then I think there's still a loophole whereby LC saying 'You will not do X' is not sufficient to cause her listener to do X just to prove her wrong. Because they don't have to prove her wrong – they only have to disbelieve her, with or without proof that they are right to do so. So it would be sufficient fulfilment of the curse for them to not-do-X but believe they're doing it.

For example:

Logic Cassandra: "You're going to go on disbelieving everything I say."

Paradox Victim: "I don't believe you! I'm firmly convinced that sooner or later, you'll manage to say something true, because it's incredibly difficult to be wrong absolutely all the time."

Paradox Victim: [nonetheless does in fact disbelieve everything LC says in the remainder of their common lifetime, but remains to their dying day firmly convinced that either LC would say something true sooner or later, or that LC must have said something true in the past that they forgot about, or both]

[jack]

That last one was a bit open ended. I sort of tacked it on. The first prophecy seemed a lot harder to wriggle out of.

I don't think believing you're going to do something automatically means you will. But when it's an active choice, believing you will seems a long way towards acting on it. And in the first case, there's no "believing", just believing that there's a good solid practical self-interested reason to do the thing :)