Taken from io9's puzzle series, which I just found, but which has been around since October 2014. So far, I haven't solved any of the four puzzles I've tried. Grrrr. No cheating.
http://io9.com/can-you-solve-the-hardest-logic-puzzle-in-the-world-1642492269
Sunday Puzzle #1: 100 Green-Eyed Dragons
UPDATE: SOLUTION
This week's puzzle is an old favorite of mine. It's been around for a long time, and existed in various forms, but the version we'll be solving I originally encountered in a handout given to physics students at Harvard, and is called "Green Eyed Dragons."
XKCD's Randall Munroe tells a version of this puzzle, called "Blue Eyes," that he's dubbed "The Hardest Logic Puzzle In The World." The puzzle is fundamentally identical to Green-Eyed Dragons, but Munroe's version includes some wording that provides what I think is a fairly big clue, so if you find yourself struggling with the dragons, head on over to XKCD and give his rendition a go. Here, now, is what I believe to be the most challenging version of the puzzle:
You visit a remote desert island inhabited by one hundred very friendly dragons, all of whom have green eyes. They haven't seen a human for many centuries and are very excited about your visit. They show you around their island and tell you all about their dragon way of life (dragons can talk, of course).
They seem to be quite normal, as far as dragons go, but then you find out something rather odd. They have a rule on the island which states that if a dragon ever finds out that he/she has green eyes, then at precisely midnight on the day of this discovery, he/she must relinquish all dragon powers and transform into a long-tailed sparrow. However, there are no mirrors on the island, and they never talk about eye color, so the dragons have been living in blissful ignorance throughout the ages.
Upon your departure, all the dragons get together to see you off, and in a tearfulfarewell you thank them for being such hospitable dragons. Then you decide to tellthem something that they all already know (for each can see the colors of the eyes ofthe other dragons). You tell them all that at least one of them has green eyes. Then you leave, not thinking of the consequences (if any). Assuming that the dragons are (of course) infallibly logical, what happens?
If something interesting does happen, what exactly is the new information that you gave the dragons?
I will make the same closing points here that Munroe does: This is not a trick question. There's no guessing or lying or discussion by or between dragons. The answer does not involve Mendelian genetics, or sign language. The answer is logical, and the dragons are perfectly logical beings. And no, the answer is not "no dragon transforms."
We'll be back next week with a breakdown of the solution – and a new puzzle!