Timeline for Who first chose the names Alice and Bob for players A and B?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
27 events
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| Sep 10, 2018 at 11:13 | comment | added | Zsbán Ambrus | Gro-Tsen replied on Twitter: “Ἀχιλλεύς and Ἕκτωρ, of course. (That's Achilles and Hector, but you have to write it in Greek for Ektôr to start with an E. Héloïse cheats in much the same way.)” twitter.com/gro_tsen/status/1018997839349846016 | |
| Jul 25, 2018 at 20:42 | comment | added | DukeZhou | If the state space is large, I might use Arges and Brontes. From a practical standpoint ("playgames" as opposed to "mathgames") we're looking at Ultraviolet vs. Infrared ("U&I") as a replacement for "black and white". Since we have to blend colors for the Mbrane (partisan sudoku) heatmaps, RGB will likely be the default for the three player game. | |
| Jul 19, 2018 at 17:34 | comment | added | Robert Furber | @JoelDavidHamkins I've just checked -- Hodges uses it in his book Building Models by Games, at the bottom of page 23. This was published in 1985. | |
| Jul 19, 2018 at 17:16 | comment | added | Todd Trimble | @SylvainJULIEN Re Ask and Embla: that's pronounced "Ash", as in ash tree, and has nothing to do with asking questions. | |
| Jul 19, 2018 at 17:03 | comment | added | Joel David Hamkins | @RobertFurber Thanks for that reference (+1); it seems probable that Mathias had got it from Hodges. But I wonder if there is a better, much earlier reference? That article is 2009, and I heard Mathias using these names in 1992 or so. | |
| Jul 19, 2018 at 16:31 | comment | added | Robert Furber | The use of Abélard and Éloïse is due to Wilfred Hodges. See page 6: wilfridhodges.co.uk/semantics06.pdf His undergraduate degree was in theology. | |
| Jul 18, 2018 at 12:11 | comment | added | Asaf Karagila♦ | Go in a WW2 with Allied Forces and Evil Axis. | |
| Jul 17, 2018 at 2:06 | comment | added | Clement C. | About Eve... Alice, Bob and Eve are commonly used in cryptography. Eve being the Eavesdropper. | |
| Jul 17, 2018 at 0:13 | comment | added | M.G. | @JoelDavidHamkins: No, I wasn't being serious :-) | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 23:33 | comment | added | Mark S | Anna Kournikova & Enrique Iglesias. Too soon? | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 23:06 | comment | added | Joel David Hamkins | @M.G. Really? In any case, let me mention that it helps in the logic of games usage to have an opposite sex couple, since then the players can be conveniently distinguished by he/she pronouns (although I suppose nontraditional pronouns could work in other cases, but not yours). | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 22:41 | comment | added | Sylvain JULIEN | Also, in Norse mythology Ask and Embla were the first humans. Due to the fact that in English the meaning of ask is related to questioning, I find it worth mentioning. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 22:33 | history | edited | Joel David Hamkins | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jul 16, 2018 at 22:10 | comment | added | Joel David Hamkins | Yes, I am thinking that perhaps both war and logician's games involve planning for strategic advantage at the essence. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 21:09 | comment | added | Sylvain JULIEN | Thank you. I guess Greek mythology as well as others can provide more examples but indeed seeing games as wars makes sense. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 21:05 | comment | added | Joel David Hamkins | @SylvainJULIEN That's a great example! The gods-of-war aspect aligns with the competitive nature of games. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 20:56 | comment | added | Sylvain JULIEN | Would Ares and Enyo qualify ? | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 19:17 | comment | added | Narasimham | Also the quantifier symbols are reflections about x-,y- axes, upside down or right side left. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 18:59 | comment | added | David Lampert | Albert and Elizabeth | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 18:38 | comment | added | Joel David Hamkins | That's a nice example, except my impression is that Aragorn is known mainly by that name and less so by Elessar, which lessens the otherwise great appeal of the example. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 18:24 | comment | added | Morteza Azad | I would like to mention my all-time favorite couple, Arwen & Elessar (aka Aragorn). One particular aspect of this love story that (as a set theorist) I like the most is the role of infinity and choice! Arwen is an immortal elf who is warned by his father, Lord Elrond, about the consequences of marrying a mortal man who eventually will die after finitely-many years and will leave his lover in eternal grief! This inevitable fate makes her choose to give up her elfish immortality to be with him! | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 18:05 | comment | added | Joe Silverman | As Joel says, cryptography has additional characters, such as "Eve" the "eavesdropper." A propos of which, people might enjoy the Alice and Bob XKCD cartoon: xkcd.com/177 | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 17:47 | comment | added | Morteza Azad | (+1) Enjoyed reading your answer, Joel! And yes, I also have heard of the Abelard and Éloïse couple (and loved it). By the way, I believe the $\forall$-$\exists$ view of the games and the corresponding interpretation of the Axiom of Determinacy as an infinitary De Morgan's law applied to formulas with alternating $\forall$ and $\exists$ quantifiers, is a terrific way of talking about games and determinacy specific to logicians. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 17:39 | comment | added | Matt Ollis | Not a couple in the romantic sense, but Anna and Elsa from the Disney film Frozen might help sell logic to a younger crowd. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 17:30 | history | edited | Joel David Hamkins | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jul 16, 2018 at 17:23 | comment | added | Joel David Hamkins | Meanwhile, for uses in cryptographic protocols, there is a larger cast of characters: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob. | |
| Jul 16, 2018 at 17:20 | history | answered | Joel David Hamkins | CC BY-SA 4.0 |