They switched the “or” to “xor” which is a logical operator meaning “exclusive or”.
The original sign is meant to be interpreted as “you may not drink and/or eat in the area the sign is placed in” – i.e. you are not allowed to do any of them individually and you are not allowed to do both at the same time either. The Xor gate changes this to be “you may drink or you may eat but you are not allowed to do both at the same time and you are not allowed to skip both”.
David Schwartz
Wintermute: Nope. That would be if it said “no food *and* drink”. That would mean you could do one but not both. It says “no food *xor* drink”. That means you can have neither or both, but you may not have exactly both.
Normally, an or is inclusive. If I say “no food or drink”, that means:
1) No food without drink.
2) No drink without food.
3) No food and drink together.
That is, the prohibition is inclusive. He made the prohibition *exclusive*. So it excludes case 3 — allowing both.
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i don’t get the first one. can anyone explain?
They switched the “or” to “xor” which is a logical operator meaning “exclusive or”.
The original sign is meant to be interpreted as “you may not drink and/or eat in the area the sign is placed in” – i.e. you are not allowed to do any of them individually and you are not allowed to do both at the same time either. The Xor gate changes this to be “you may drink or you may eat but you are not allowed to do both at the same time and you are not allowed to skip both”.
Wintermute: Nope. That would be if it said “no food *and* drink”. That would mean you could do one but not both. It says “no food *xor* drink”. That means you can have neither or both, but you may not have exactly both.
Normally, an or is inclusive. If I say “no food or drink”, that means:
1) No food without drink.
2) No drink without food.
3) No food and drink together.
That is, the prohibition is inclusive. He made the prohibition *exclusive*. So it excludes case 3 — allowing both.