准大学生必读：李开复给女儿的一封信(双语)_新浪教育_新浪网
准大学生必读：李开复给女儿的一封信(双语)
李开复全家福
　　Dear Daughter:
　　亲爱的女儿：
　　As we drove off from Columbia, I wanted to write a letter to you to tell you all that is on my mind。
　　当我们开车驶出哥伦比亚大学的时候，我想写一封信给你，告诉你盘旋在我脑中的想法。
　　First, I want to tell you how proud we are.
Getting into Columbia is a real testament of what a great well-rounded student you are.
Your academic, artistic, and social skills have truly blossomed in the last few years.
Whether it is getting the highest grade in Calculus, completing your elegant fashion design, successfully selling your painted running shoes, or becoming one of the top orators in Model United Nations, you have become a talented and accomplished young woman.
You should be as proud of yourself as we are。
　　首先，我想告诉你我们为你感到特别骄傲。进入哥伦比亚大学证明你是一个全面发展的优秀学生，你的学业、艺术和社交技能最近都有卓越的表现，无论是你高中微积分第一名，时尚的设计，绘制的球鞋，还是在“模拟联合国”的演说，你毫无疑问已经是一个多才多艺的女孩。你的父母为你感到骄傲，你也应该像我们一样为自己感到自豪。
　　I will always remember the first moment I held you in my arms.
I felt a tingling sensation that directly touched my heart.
It was an intoxicating feeling I will always have.
It must be that “father-daughter connection” which will bind us for life.
I will always remember singing you lullaby while I rocked you to sleep.
When I put you down, it was always with both relief (she finally fell asleep!) and regret (wishing I could hold you longer).
And I will always remember taking you to the playground, and watching you having so much fun.
You were so cute and adorable, and that is why everybody loved you so。
　　我会永远记得第一次将你抱在臂弯的那一刻，一种新鲜激动的感觉瞬间触动了我的心，那是一种永远让我陶醉的感觉，就是那种将我们的一生都联结在一起的“父女情结”。我也常常想起我唱着催眠曲轻摇你入睡，当我把你放下的时候，常常觉得既解脱又惋惜，一方面我想，她终于睡着了！另一方面，我又多么希望自己可以多抱你一会儿。我还记得带你到运动场，看着你玩得那么开心，你是那样可爱，所有人都非常爱你。
　　You have been a great kid ever since you were born, always quiet, empathetic, attentive, and well-mannered.
You were three when we built our house.
I remember you quietly followed us every weekend for more than ten hours a day to get building supplies.
You put up with that boring period without a fuss, happily ate hamburgers every meal in the car, sang with Barney until you fell asleep.
When you went to Sunday Chinese school, you studied hard even though it was no fun for you.
I cannot believe how lucky we are as parents to have a daughter like you。
　　你不但长得可爱，而且是个特别乖巧的孩子。你从不吵闹、为人着想，既听话又有礼貌。当你三岁我们建房子的时候，每个周末十多个小时你都静静地跟着我们去运建筑材料，三餐在车上吃着汉堡，唱着儿歌，唱累了就睡觉，一点都不娇气不抱怨。你去上周日的中文学习班时，尽管一点也不觉得有趣，却依然很努力。我们做父母的能有像你这样的女儿真的感到非常幸运。
　　You have been an excellent elder sister.
Even though you two had your share of fights, the last few years you have become best friends.
Your sister loves you so much, and she loves to make you laugh.
She looks up to you, and sees you as her role model.
As you saw when we departed, she misses you so much.
And I know that you miss her just as much.
There is nothing like family, and other than your parents, your sister is the one person who you can trust and confide in.
She will be the one to take care of you, and the one you must take care of. There is nothing we wish more than that your sisterhood will continue to bond as you grow older, and that you will take care of each other throughout your lives.
For the next four years, do have a short video chat with her every few days, and do email her when you have a chance。
　　你也是个很好的姐姐。虽然你们姐妹以前也会打架，但是长大后，你们真的成为了好朋友。妹妹很爱你，很喜欢逗你笑，她把你当成她的榜样看待。我们开车离开哥大后，她非常想你，我知道你也很想她。世界上最宝贵的就是家人。和父母一样，妹妹就是你最可以信任的人。随着年龄的增长，你们姐妹之间的情谊不变，你们互相照应，彼此关心，这就是我最希望见到的事情了。在你的大学四年，有空时你一定要常常跟妹妹视频聊聊天，写写电子邮件。
　　College will be the most important years in your life.
It is in college that you will truly discover what learning is about.
You often question “what good is this course”.
I encourage you to be inquisitive, but I also want to tell you :“education is what you have left after all that is taught is forgotten”.
What I mean by that is the materials taught isn’t as important as you gaining the ability to learn a new subject, and the ability to analyze a new problem.
That is really what learning in college is about C this will be the period where you go from teacher-taught to master-inspired, after which you must become self-learner.
So do take each subject seriously, and even if what you learn isn’t critical for your life, the skills of learning will be something you cherish forever。
　　大学将是你人生最重要的时光，在大学里你会发现学习的真谛。你以前经常会问到 “这个课程有什么用”，这是个好问题，但是我希望你理解：“教育的真谛就是当你忘记一切所学到的东西之后所剩下的东西。”我的意思是，最重要的不是你学到的具体的知识，而是你学习新事物和解决新问题的能力。这才是大学学习的真正意义――这将是你从被动学习转向自主学习的阶段，之后你会变成一个很好的自学者。所以，即便你所学的不是生活里所急需的，也要认真看待大学里的每一门功课，就算学习的技能你会忘记，学习的能力是你将受用终身的。
　　Do not fall into the trap of dogma.
There is no single simple answer to any question.
Remember during your high school debate class, I always asked you to take on the side that you don’t believe in?
I did that for a reason -- things rarely“black and white”， and there are always many ways to look at a problem.
You will become a better problem solver if you recognized that.
This is called “critical thinking”， and it is the most important thinking skill you need for your life.
This also means you need to become tolerant and supportive of others.
I will always remember when I went to my Ph.D. advisor and proposed a new thesis topic.
He said “I don’t agree with you, but I’ll support you。”
After the years, I have learned this isn’t just flexibility, it is encouragement of critical thinking, and an empowering style of leadership, and it has become a part of me.
I hope it will become a part of you too。
　　不要被教条所束缚，任何问题都没有一个唯一的简单的答案。还记得当我帮助你高中的辩论课程时，我总是让你站在你不认可的那一方来辩论吗？我这么做的理由就是希望你能够理解：看待一个问题不应该非黑即白，而是有很多方法和角度。当你意识到这点的时候，你就会成为一个很好的解决问题者。这就是“批判的思维”――你的一生都会需要的最重要的思考方式，这也意味着你还需要包容和支持不同于你的其他观点。我永远记得我去找我的博士导师提出了一个新论题，他告诉我：“我不同意你，但我支持你。”多年后，我认识到这不仅仅是包容，而是一种批判式思考，更是令人折服的领导风格，现在这也变成了我的一部分。我希望这也能成为你的一部分。
　　Follow your passion in college.
Take courses you think you will enjoy.
Don’t be trapped in what others think or say.
Steve Jobs says when you are in college, your passion will create many dots, and later in your life you will connect them. In his great speech given at Stanford commencement , he gave the great example where he took calligraphy, and a decade later, it became the basis of the beautiful Macintosh fonts, which later ignited desktop publishing, and brought wonderful tools like Microsoft Word to our lives.
His expedition into calligraphy was a dot, and the Macintosh became the connecting line.
So don’t worry too much about what job you will have, and don’t be too utilitarian, and if you like Japanese or Korean, go for it, even if your dad thinks “it’s not useful。”
Enjoy picking your dots, and be assured one day you will find your calling, and connect a beautiful curve through the dots。
　　在大学里你要追随自己的激情和兴趣，选你感兴趣的课程，不要困扰于别人怎么说或怎么想。史蒂夫•乔布斯曾经说过，在大学里你的热情会创造出很多点，在你随后的生命中你会把这些点串联起来。在他著名的斯坦福毕业典礼演讲中，他举了一个很好的例子：他在大学里修了看似毫无用处的书法，而十年后，这成了苹果Macintosh里漂亮字库的基础，而因为Macintosh有这么好的字库，才带来了桌面出版和今天的办公软件(例如微软Office)。他对书法的探索就是一个点，而苹果Macintosh把多个点联结成了一条线。所以不要太担心将来你要做什么样的工作，也不要太急功近利。假如你喜欢日语或韩语，就去学吧，尽管你的爸爸曾说过那没什么用：)尽兴地选择你的点吧，要有信念有一天机缘来临时，你会找到自己的人生使命，画出一条美丽的曲线。
　　Do your best in classes, but don’t let pressure get to you.
Your mother and I have no expectations for your grades.
If you graduate and learn something in your four years, we would feel happy.
Your Columbia degree will take you far, even if you don’t graduate with honors.
So please don’t give yourself pressure。During your last few months in high school, you were so happy because there was little pressure and college applications are finished.
But in the past few weeks, we saw you are beginning to worry (did you know you bite your nails when you are nervous?).
Please don’t be worried.
The only thing that matters is that you learned.
The only metric you should use is that you tried.
Grades are just silly letters that give the vain people something to brag, and the lazy people something to fear.
You are too good to be either。
　　在功课上要尽力，但不要给自己太多压力。你妈妈和我在成绩上对你没什么要求，只要你能顺利毕业并在这四年里学到了些东西，我们就会很高兴了。即便你毕业时没有获得优异的成绩，你的哥伦比亚学位也将带你走得很远。所以别给自己压力。在你高中生活的最后几个月，因为压力比较小，大学申请也结束了，你过得很开心，但是在最近的几个星期，你好像开始紧张起来。(你注意到你紧张时会咬指甲吗？)千万别担心，最重要的是你有在学习，你需要的唯一衡量是你的努力程度。成绩只不过是虚荣的人用以吹嘘和慵懒的人所恐惧的无聊数字而已，而你既不虚荣也不慵懒。
　　Most importantly, make friends and be happy.
College friends are often the best in life, because during college you are closer to them physically than to your family. Also, going through independence and adulthood is a natural bonding experience.
Pick a few friends and become really close to them C pick the ones who are genuine and sincere to you.
Don’t worry about their hobbies, grades, looks, or even personalities.
You have developed some real friendships in high school in your last two years, so trust your instinct, and make new friends.
You are a genuine and sincere person C anyone would enjoy being your friend, so be confident, outgoing, and pro-active.
If you think you like someone, tell her.
You have very little to lose. Give people the
don’t stereotype and be forgiving.
People are not perfect, so as long as they are genuine and sincere, trust them and be good to them.
They will give back.
This is my secret of success C that I am genuine with people and trust them (unless they do something to lose my trust).
Some people tell me that occasionally I would be taken advantage of.
They are right, but I can tell you that that loss is nothing compared to what I gained.
In my last 18 years leading people, I have realized that only one thing matters C to gain the trust and respect of others, and to do so, you need to trust and respect others first.
Whether it is for management, work, or friendship, this is something you should ponder。
　　最重要的是在大学里你要交一些朋友，快乐生活。大学的朋友往往是生命中最好的朋友，因为在大学里你和朋友能够近距离交往。另外，在一块儿成长，一起独立，很自然地你们就会紧紧地系在一起，成为密友。你应该挑选一些真诚诚恳的朋友，跟他们亲近，别在乎他们的爱好、成绩、外表甚至性格。你在高中的最后两年已经交到了一些真正的朋友，所以尽可以相信自己的直觉，再交一些新朋友吧。你是一个真诚的人，任何人都会喜欢跟你做朋友的，所以要自信、外向、主动一点，如果你喜欢某人，就告诉她，就算她拒绝了，你也没有损失什么。以最大的善意去对人，不要有成见，要宽容。人无完人，只要他们很真诚，就信任他们，对他们友善。他们将给你相同的回报，这是我成功的秘密――我以诚待人，信任他人(除非他们做了失信于我的事)。有人告诉这样有时我会被占便宜，他们是对的，但是我可以告诉你：以诚待人让我得到的远远超过我失去的。在我做管理的18年里，我学到一件很重要的事――要想得到他人的信任和尊重，只有先去信任和尊重他人。无论是管理、工作、交友，这点都值得你参考。
　　Do keep your high school friends, and stay connected to them, but do not use them as substitutes for college friendship, and do not spend too much time with them, because that would eat into your time to make new friends。
　　要和你高中时代的朋友保持联系，但是不要用他们来取代大学的友谊，也不要把全部的时间都花在老朋友身上，因为那样你就会失去交新朋友的机会了。
　　Start planning for your summers early C what would you like to do?
Where would you like to live?
What would you like to learn?
What have you learned in college that might change your mind?
I think your plan of studying fashion is good, and you should decide where you want to be, and get into the right courses.
We of course hope you come back to Beijing, but you should go where you think is best for you。
　　你还要早点开始规划你的暑假――你想做什么？你想呆在哪儿？你想学点什么？你在大学里学习是否会让你有新的打算？我觉得你学习艺术设计的计划很不错，你应该想好你该去哪儿学习相应的课程。我们当然希望你回到北京，但是最终的决定是你的。
　　Whether it is summer-planning, or coursework planning, or picking a major, or managing your time, you should take control of your life.
In the past, I have helped you quite a bit, whether it is in college application, designing your extracurricular activities, or picking the initial coursework.
I will always be there for you, but the time has come for you to be in the driver’s seat C this is your life, and you need to be in control.
I will always remember the exhilarating feeling in my life Cthat I got to decide to skip kindergarten, that I got to decide to change to computer science major, that I got to decide to leave academia for Apple, that I got to decide to go to China, that I got to decide to go to Google, and most recently, that I got to decide to start my own business.
Being able to decide means you get to live the life that you want to.
Life is too short to live the life others do or others want you. Being in control feels great.
Try it, and you’ll love it!
　　不管是暑假计划，功课规划，抑或是选专业，管理时间，你都应该负责你的人生。过去不管是申请学校、设计课外活动或者选择最初的课程，我都从旁帮助了你不少。以后，我仍然会一直站你身旁，但是现在是你自己掌舵的时候了。我常常记起我生命中那些令人振奋的时刻――在幼儿园决定跳级，决定转到计算机科学专业，决定离开学术界选择Apple，决定回中国，决定选择Google，乃至最近选择创办我的新公司。有能力进行选择意味着你会过上自己想要的生活。生命太短暂了，你不能过别人想要你过的生活。掌控自己的生命是很棒的感觉，试试吧，你会爱上它的！
　　I told your mom I’m writing this letter, and asked what she wanted me to say.
She thought and said: “just ask her to take care of herself。”
Simple but deeply caringC that is how your mother is, and that is why you love her so much.
In this simple sentence is her hope that you will become independent in the way you take care of yourself C that you will remember to take your medicine, that you will get enough sleep, that you will have a balanced diet, that you will get some exercise, and that you will go see a doctor whenever you don’t feel good.
An ancient Chinese proverb says that the most important thing to be nice to your parents is to take care of yourself.
This is because your parents love you so much, and that if you are well, they will have comfort.
You will understand this one day when you become a mother. But in the meantime, please listen to your mother and take care of yourself。
　　我告诉你妈妈我在写这封信，问她有什么想对你说的，她想了想，说“让她好好照顾自己”，很简单却饱含着真切的关心――这一向是你深爱的妈妈的特点。这短短的一句话，是她想提醒你很多事情，比如要记得自己按时吃药，好好睡觉，保持健康的饮食，适量运动，不舒服的时候要去看医生等等。中国有句古语，说“身体发肤，受之父母，不敢毁伤，孝之始也”。这句话的意思用比较新的方法诠释就是说：父母最爱的就是你，所以照顾好自己就是孝顺最好的方法。当你成为母亲的那天，你就会理解这些。在那天之前，听妈妈的，你一定要好好照顾自己。
　　College is the four years where you have:
　　•
the greatest amount of free time
　　•
the first chance to be independent
　　•
the most flexibility to change
　　•
the lowest risk for making mistakes
　　So please treasure your college years C make the best of your free time, become an independent thinker in control of your destiny, evolve yourself into a bi-cultural talent, be bold to experiment, learn and grow through your successes and challenges。
　　大学是你自由时间最多的四年。
　　大学是你第一次学会独立的四年。
　　大学是可塑性最强的四年。
　　大学是犯错代价最低的四年。
　　所以，珍惜你的大学时光吧，好好利用你的空闲时间，成为掌握自己命运的独立思考者，发展自己的多元化才能，大胆地去尝试，通过不断的成功和挑战来学习和成长，成为融汇中西的人才。
　　When I faced the greatest challenge and opportunity in my life in 2005, you gave me a big hug and said “bonne chance”， which means “good luck” and “good courage”. Now I do the same for you.
Bonne chance, my angel and princess.
May Columbia become the happiest four years in your life, and may you blossom into just what you dream to be。
　　当我在2005年面对人生最大的挑战时，你给了我大大的拥抱，还跟我说了一句法语“bonne chance”。这句话代表“祝你勇敢，祝你好运！”现在，我也想跟你说同样的话，bonne chance，我的天使和公主，希望哥伦比亚成为你一生中最快乐的四年，希望你成为你梦想成为的人！
　　Dad (& Mom)
　　爱你的，
　　爸爸(和妈妈)
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I Know You Know I Know
Captain Amazing: I knew you couldn't change. Casanova Frankenstein: I knew you'd know that. Captain Amazing: Oh, I know that. And I knew you'd know I'd know you knew. Casanova Frankenstein: But I didn't. I only knew that you'd know that I knew. Did you know that? Captain Amazing: (clears throat) ....
can be a . It seems no matter , there's always someone who can mess your plan up if he knows about it. Ah, but how do you know he knows? He may be acting like he doesn't know so you won't do anything different that he can't predict. This, inevitably, leads to the following paranoid rant:
"Yes, but if he knows I know he knows, he may do (X) instead. But what if he knows more than I think he does? He could be acting like he only knows that I know he knows, when in fact he knows that I know he knows I know he knows!"
Typical punchline: "...what was I doing again?"note&
Something of an overblown version of the classic chess axiom "think three moves ahead", this is one of the most common sights in a duel of . A
may also have them, as the level of paranoia necessary to pull one off suggests he's suspecting
of knowing and reacting accordingly. Of course, if there's a
in the making, that attitude might be justified...
May not feature the exact line, but often uses a scene where one character or the other remarks on how his opponent would react if he knew, and what he's doing in case that happens. In , humans are capable of keeping track of many degrees of what people know ("I know that he knows that she knows that they know that we know about the party..."), though even when taking the game seriously, they tend to find the string of "knowing" comical.
I Know You Know I Know breaks down logically, and it obeys some rules. Here are the levels of deception, with examples:
Level 0: absolute honesty, no deception.
Level 1: X plays level 1 (hereafter abbreviated X(n)). X(1) has information that Y(0) does not, and utilizes this in a deception.
Level 2: Y(2) knows that X(1) is playing a deception. Y(2) reacts accordingly.
Level 3: X(3) knows that Y(2) is well aware of the deception, and thus plans for the outcome of the first deception being revealed.
Level 4: Y(4) is aware of the above play, and knows that the logical reaction to finding out the deception will play right into X(3)'s hands. Thus, Y(4) plays around X(3).
Level 5: X(5)'s entire deception is a deception, maybe meant only to engage Y(4).
And so on, and so on.
This chain can go on indefinitely. In the really hairy cases, one or more deceptions are being played parallel or maybe even in conjunction with one another, making the above-mentioned .
From the second level on, the recipient of the deception (in this case Y) has two choices: either Y plays a counter-game so that the deception is revealed, or . The first option will reveal Y to be playing a higher level, but will foil X's deception. The second option will let X fulfill the deception, but will not reveal Y's level. Reaction from Y is crucial, as this separates Y from a player of equal level to X. If that was the case, Y would simply be aware of the deception but unable to act upon it. In reacting, Y steps it up a level.
Of course, with each rise in level, the below levels become meaningless, so this gambit only works if X is not playing an even higher level, in which case Y would either be playing into X's hands or letting X win.
X also runs the risk of misjudging Y's level. If Y is playing a higher level than anticipated, then the deception is, as mentioned above, meaningless. If Y is playing a lower level, then X will be
but never engaged on the higher levels, which may leave X . When the
occurs the mark (X) is at level 2 and thinks the con (Y) is at level 1, when actually the con is at level 3.
See also most instances of the
and . Frequently a consideration in . In many an
this will take the form a (often internal) monolog. Sometimes circumvented by making a completely random (), unrelated, or unexpected move, which is where the
might come in handy.
Usually results in an . Frequently ends with an "I ". May result in -like behavior when plans are laid for both eventualities, and then for both of those eventualities, and then all four of those, and then all sixteen... This may develop into a
if it hasn't done so already.
Not to be confused with
or the theme song to
(though the latter is an example).
&&&&open/close all folders&
&&&&Anime & Manga&
And all of
from the time L shows up. So, all of it, really. It might as well be called I Know You Know I Know: The Manga Series.
Especially when
L and Light start working together to catch Kira, who is actually Light. L was always slightly better at the up close and personal mindgames, but Light fared better in the end.
The series finale may be the largest example of this anywhere. Light and Near are somewhere around eight layers deep into this, both of them believing that they are one step ahead of the other. There's an entertaining panel in the manga where other characters witnessing a conversation between Light and Near begin to wonder why neither of them is saying anything.
does something like this during the big game between Ojou and Deimon during the Fall Tournament, with a whole string of characters reacting with shock, then going "Is that what you expected me to say?" when a dramatic play seems to go one way, then the other.
: Considering it's a series that's about people trying to kill each other to become God where each and every one of them can predict the future this happens often.
In the "Little Army" prequel manga of , Miho knows that the StuG III her sister Maho is commanding in their practice battle against each other doesn't have a rotating turret, but she's aware that Maho knows she knows this. Maho then plans on setting an ambush, but Miho plans to ambush Maho first, which results in Maho taking the initiative and almost taking out Miho's tank. The battle ultimately concludes in a final exchange of shells, resulting in Maho just barely winning.
Appears in , strangely not as a part of an , but in a sniper duel. In fact, the whole episode revolves around knowing and predicting enemy tactics. The story is told by one character during a poker game to illustrate to the other players why he is so good at bluffing.
Every fight during the second part of
follows this pattern. Joseph attacks, the opponent declares they saw it coming and counters, Joseph explains he saw that coming and twists the attack as needed, and so on until one side or the other goes down.
This carries over to later parts of the series. For example: Jotaro "faking" his genuine ability to move through stopped time so that Dio would be caught off-guard after calling him on his apparent bluff.
This makes up about a third of , the other two-thirds being basic game theory and heroic determination. In particular, the defeat of Tonegawa in the first season is based on Kaiji's realization of when Tonegawa will stop knowing he knows. Tonegawa's observant enough to notice that two of Kaiji's cards are bloodstained on the back, and clever enough to realize that Kaiji has to know the cards are bloodstained. From there, Tonegawa assumes that Kaiji set a simple trap, bloodstaining cards other than the ones Tonegawa thought he had out, so as to trick him into playing the wrong card and losing. But because Tonegawa thinks he's better and smarter than lower-class gamblers like Kaiji, it doesn't occur to him that Kaiji would realize that Tonegawa would realize this, and that the cards are exactly the ones he initially thought they were.
Most of the point of
is like this, with Yang Wenli and Reinhard (and various other pairs) making plans, which may include knowing their opponent's plans (and sometimes involve a plan being an opponent seeing though the plan, with an extra layer of fake planning below it).
The third round in
becomes this with Akiyama and Yokoya. The fourth round features it even more.
In , there's a fair amount of this going on when the Eastal Alliance approaches the Round Table Conference for help against the goblin armies. Eastal desperately needs the Adventurers' superior military abilities, but they don't want to appear vulnerable, lest they make themselves out to be weak. The Round Table Conference, meanwhile, wants to help but don't want to make it seem like they are subservient or inferior to Eastal, lest the Eastal nobility think they can order the Adventurers around whenever they want. And of course, each side of the discussion is aware of the other side's agenda, and the fact that the other side knows their agenda. What follows is a complex and delicate battle of
between the two powers as they try to be allies while saving face.
An episode of
had the group seeing a basket of fruit on the road. Ash wanted to eat it, but Misty points out that it's an obvious trap by . She then points to some fruit growing in the trees, which the gang decided to take... causing them to fall right into a trap set by Team Rocket, who set up the basket knowing it would be ignored.
runs on this trope. One strategist would lay out a plan, and in the end would say, "Of course, if the enemy strategist is any good, he would know that I will be planning this, so...".
Chapter 177 plays this
. Zhang Fei and Chen Gong were schemin the former was trying to lure Lu Bu to Xiapi to kill him while the latter wish to drive out Zhang Fei to take Xiapi. Both of them outlines their plans, and the narrative switch back and forth between them anticipating each other.
According to Pang Tong, the ultimate strategy is to "Let your opponent know your next step. Even more brilliant is to let your opponent know your next two steps." (And then, the next three...)
A major plot point of a certain
arc. Holo is a semi-deity, one incredibly adept at quick thinking and long term planning both. Her
and silver tongue can turn practically any bargain into an incredible deal. So when Lawrence manages to find himself in a make-or-break financial showdown with Amati, (who is also an incredible merchant), he almost breaks down trying to out-think their combined plans. Holo was actually helping him the whole time, he was just so distraught over the matter that he missed the hints she was dropping, and completely misinterpreted the few he caught.
One episode of
does this word-for-word, during Joey's battle with Yugi. He gives a long internal monologue about whether or not the card Yugi placed down was a trap card or if that was too obvious...
"Aw, forget it, I'm just gonna attack."
This exact scenario, with whatever permutations, has gone on in in the mind of every person who has played the game in real life, at least once.
Any duel involving
becomes this for his opponent, sometimes because he makes it a point to flaunt his foolproof strategy (which actually works) and sometimes because his opponents think too much.
In , since Hyper Metal Sonic uses Sonic's life data, he's essentially an actual copy of Sonic. During their final confrontation, the two are so evenly matched, they're brought to a high-speed standstill and allows Sonic to give the :
Sonic: You might know everything I'm going to do, but that's not going to help you since I know everything you're going to do! Strange, isn't it?!
&&&&Card Games&
strategy, especially at higher levels, requires this kind of thinking and trying to stay one step ahead of your opponent(s). At its highest levels, the whole thing can get ridiculous, break down, and require game theory to come up with an ideal solution.
Notably, it's also important to be playing exactly one level higher than your opponent but no more. There's no point playing at level 2 (Trying to work out what cards your opponent has) if they are only playing at level 0 (i.e. without looking at their cards) and there's no point playing at level three (manipulating your table image to convince your opponent you have certain cards) if your opponent is playing at level 1 (only looking at their cards without trying to work out what you have).
Blackjack strategy (e.g., "counting cards") and trying not to let casinos notice you thinking too much is a meta-gambling example which can, at its extreme, surpass anything you've read in a spy novel.
Really, any competitive game is like this. Playing to Win has .
Trading card games can have a variety of rules, exceptions, and so on to keep things interesting, but Yu-Gi-Oh! is well-known for the numerous and sometimes surprising ways the action can be altered, and the official rules tell you to expect this by saying that if a card says something contrary to the rules, you follow the card. There are cards to alter almost any aspect of the game: from draw to battle to endgame, so any action you take can begin this kind of mindgame.
Even very simple games like "Odds and Evens" and "" tends to make for use of this trope to absurd degrees, all in simply figuring out what out of two (former) or three (latter) moves your opponent will play.
with the Shadows (monsters), the , and the neutral. The shadows must kill the hunters. The hunters mist kill the shadows. The neutrals have their own objectives. One of the neutral is Daniel, whose
is . So inexperienced players who end up with Daniel may attack others randomly, hoping to get killed through retaliation. Experienced players will see right through it. So an experienced player may attack everyone at random to avoid retaliation by making everyone think they are Daniel. But if they are experienced and know he is experienced, they will see right through the charade. So an experienced player playing with other experienced players who know he is experienced and ends up with Daniel will attack other at random to make them believe he is someone pretending to be Daniel, hoping to be killed by the others to prevent him from becoming the . But experienced players knowing he is experienced knowing he knows they know he is experienced will see right through this charade, but an experienced player who knows he plays with experienced players who know he is experienced and that he knows they know...
&&&&Comic Books&
does this several times, usually involving Lord Julius, a Clown Prince of . Astoria also does this to Cerebus even while chained to his dungeon wall.
has used this joke quite a few times, when Charlie Brown is on the pitcher's mount, trying to figure out whether the hitter is expecting his fast ball. There was another incident involving Lucy's football-pulling stunt:
Charlie Brown: Ha! I know what she's got on her mind! Every year she pulls the same trick on me... she jerks the ball away just as I try to kick it... Well, this time I think she has a different idea. I think she's going to try to fool me by not jerking the ball away! This time she knows I know she knows that I know she knows I know what she's going to do... I'm way ahead of her! () Lucy: I figured you knew that I knew you knew I knew that you knew I knew you knew, so I had to jerk it away!
stops the hijacking of a NASA space shuttle she and the agent in charge of the hijacking keep one-upping the other after they reveal a part of their scheme to the other, each explaining how it "changes the game." First, Black Widow reveals that she is working with the CIA and has been impersonating the man's partner. The man, commenting that that changes the game, explains that he has just detonated the explosive in his partner's head, probably killing a few of his interrogators. Widow, saying that that changes the game, explains that she is still going to take this man in for questioning, though now she will make sure to hurt him while doing so. The hijacker, , explains that he is now crashing the shuttle to stop her. After that the game stops changing and Widow just beats the tar out of the man, but you have to wonder what game they started with and what they were playing when they finished.
"Rightful Owners" arc, Webby asks Scrooge why he's taking a boat instead of a submarine like last time. Scrooge answers that his competitor most likely expects he'll be going in a submarine, so he's going in a boat instead.
: In the last scene
implies she figured out 's , and she knows Batgirl deduced hers. And Batgirl knows Supergirl knows this.
had a case of this, when Garfield was trying to get a spider to come a bit closer so he could hit him with a (not very well concealed) newspaper. After a pileup of "Make me Make you"s, they forget what they were talking about... and the process was restarted in the last panel.
has two Black Templars discover that the Chaos forces have run off despite not being particularly close to defeat, leaving behind heavy weapons and vehicles of great strategic value. One wonders why they ran off, the other thinks it's a trap, the first wonders if that's what the Chaos commanders want them to think, etc.
Played with in
and the Soothsayer - Prolix the Soothsayer is a fake and knows nothing. When he gets arrested by the Romans because soothsaying is illegal, he correctly predicts how a dice would fall, and hastily protests that if he'd known that he wouldn't have said it. As the question of whether he's really a soothsayer becomes more and more complicated (because the centurion wants to believe the predictions about himself becoming Emperor, while insisting to his optio (adjunct) that it's okay to work with him because he's a fake), increasingly convoluted versions of this logic are applied to every prediction he makes, whether it's accurate or not. (At one point, the optio tries the dice test again, and he gets it wrong, prompting the centurion to tell Prolix not to get too clever, or even the optio might suspect something.)
&&&&Fan Works&
: In chapter 8 Kihl informs Gendo that they will send him the Fifth Child. Gendo knows the Fifth Child will surely be a spy. Kihl knows that Gendo will regard him suspiciously. And Gendo knows that Kihl knows that. And Kihl knows that Gendo knows that Kihl knows that.
Gendo: 'Fifth Child? So soon after we 'found' the Fourth? Kihl has to know I will regard anyone they send as a spy. And he knows I know that.'
: After getting Gendo imprisoned, Fuyutsuki got promoted to NERV Commander and abandoned the SEELE's plans. SEELE knows this. He knows they know. And they know he knows they know. Still during the meetings everyone pretend they are completely unaware of each side?s thoughts and intentions. At least all agree those meetings are a boring waste of time.
In , Harry learns methods of deception at higher levels, such that this becomes invoked. If you want to pretend that you do (or don't) know something, then instead of acting the way that you would if you really knew, you have to act the way that you think they think you would act if you really did (or didn't) know. You can fool a simple person by pretending you know everything and then subtly fishing for clues. And you can make them think you don't know anything, by making an obvious show of fishing for clues. But you have to anticipate that a higher level player could realise that you're only pretending to bluff, when in fact you really did know all along.
Harry successfully pulls this off in his first interaction with Lucius Malfoy, quite possibly by accident. When Lucius makes veiled references, Harry responds by playing along... badly. His deception is so obvious that Lucius sees through it almost immediately. Then Lucius starts to think it was too easy - Harry must have been only pretending to be a fool that pretended to understand. He says as much, and walks away, apparently confident that his original message was conveyed. Meanwhile, Harry doesn't have the faintest clue what's going on.
His new friend Draco's response to this? Screaming horror.
Played with in . When Ebony Enoby travels back in time, she knows that Snape Snoop possessed James Samaro and made him kill Lucius Lucian. She, however, did not "want them to know [she] knew." Whether or not Tom knew she knew is not made clear, but it is likely, as he is Volxemort and commanded Snop. "Suddenly it's a ," the dramatic reading snarked at this bit.
Tom knew she knew that he knew that Snoop worked for Volxemort and possessed Samaro and... it kind of melts from there.
Happens in , mostly between Twilight and L.
In a chapter of , Theron Mahariel, the Dalish Elf Warden, contemplates how he's been passively spying / been allowed to eavesdrop on some secret talks between the
dwarven noble protagonist and Alim Surana,
mage. The extent of the I know he knows I don't, etc., has to be seen to be believed. And it's only slightly played for laughs.
So, basically, Theron knew that Raonar and Alim knew some things they didn't, and he also knew that Raonar knew that he knew this, but did not bother pointing it out or taking measures to prevent the tattooed elf, in the future, from coming to know of everything else Alim came to know, as long as said mage did not come to know of the hunter's knowing of what he thought everyone else did not know, meaning that Theron did not have to bother getting into the habit of finding lounging spots any way farther, since Raonar either did not have anything specifically against it or knew he was not going to inform the others of his knowing that Alim, who did not know that he knew of his knowing of things that only Raonar knew more about, knew more than what he thought he knew the others did.
Theron had continued to not-truly-eavesdrop on them occasionally, wondering when the crooked dwarf would come forth and inform Alim that, despite what he thought he knew, what he really knew was less than he believed, considering that he thought he knew for sure that no one besides the commander knew what he knew, and that, by extension, no one else knew he knew of those things, when in fact Theron had always known them without his knowing, Alim having been prevented from coming to know that the Dalish elf had always known of his knowing, as well as of Raonar's knowing that the latter knew whatever Alim knew of what he believed only the two of them knew, plus that Alim did not, in fact, know that Theron knew of his supposed knowing that no one besides the exile knew of his knowing of those things (a conviction which was false).
Harry and Daphne Greengrass have a somewhat convoluted exchange concerning Nicolas Flamel.
Daphne: What do you know that he knows and suspects that you know? Harry: I suspect that he knows what I need to know and that I know that he suspects that I suspect he knows what it is that I need to know.
and defied in the
Light: Maybe if you told me what you were planning ahead of time...
Near: But I thought you would know what I was planning and plan around it and then I'd plan around your plans in a way you'd never see coming...
The protagonists of
fic Pyrrha(c) victory pass through several levels of deception along these lines. To summarize: Jaune and Pyrrha are both attracted to each other, but don't know if the other reciprocates their feelings...until the "Huntress" chapter, when Pyrrha finds out that Jaune knows he's attracted to her and that she's attracted to him (but has been pretending he doesn't know for some time) and later informs him that she knows what he knows about both of them, so that now he knows she knows. .
Harry is trying to avoid the girls in his life and gets a bit paranoid in his reasoning.
His first thought was to head to the Room of Requirement, even though he was sure that would be exactly what they would expect him to do. He reasoned though, in a completely reasonable and psychological way, that if that was exactly what they would expect, then he figured they would know that he would expect that they would expect that...and so what they would actually LEAST expect was for him to actually go to the Room of Requirement.
Ron suggests just grabbing Nagini and leaving the site of a stakeout after Harry realizes that she's a Horcrux.
Daphne Greengrass: If we take Nagini he's going to know we know and we really don't want him knowing we know until we want him to know.
In : When a SEELE?s black ops team is assassinated, Keel argues that Gendo isn?t behind that mess because it isn?t his style. Another SEELE member points out that maybe he knew that they know this. Keel angrily replied that kind or debate will get them nowhere.
?It is not his style to leave the execution of something like this to a subordinate like that. He might never get his hands dirty, but he wants to be there to watch.? ?Unless of course he knew that we knew this sort of thing would be outside his style,? the American from before points out. ?True, but we could play ?He knows I know? all day and get nowhere.
: Gendo and SEELE's final goals come into conflict with one another. Both sides know that, Gendo knows SEELE knows his real goals, and SEELE knows Gendo knows they know he's liable to betray them in the future.
Their investigations had uncovered that there was some kind of friction between SEELE and their point man at Central. As far as Kaji had understood and explained it, the goals of SEELE and Gendo meshed well until some undetermined point in the future, at which point? things would probably happen. Both sides pretended it wasn't the case, but both sides knew the truth and were constantly maneuvering for position even as they worked together closely on what they needed to cooperate on.
the Brotherhood of Mutants moves to a new safe house and Harry suggests casting listening spells in the old one.
Scott: If they cleared out, wouldn't they not come back, since we know they're here and this place has been compromised? Harry: They'd think that we'd think that, which means there's a likely shot that they could come back and use this house given that it's the last place that we'd look because they'd think that we'd think we should not bother with this place because they'd move to another place. Bobby: After that I don't know what to think.
In , Ned ends up confirming the identity of the Iron Man, but his blunt attempt to know the truth lets his cousin Tony turn the tables on him with
the true nature of his blood relation to Jon Snow. Tony technically never confirms or receives confirmation for his own accusation, but both men know the other one is aware of the truth.
In , Nico and
Mania play this trope straight during Part Nine's finale.
Nico: [...] But I knew she knew she didn't have time.
&&&&Films — Animation&
has a variation. Hades is telling The Fates his , but they keep interrupting him by saying they already know his plan, because they're the Fates and they . Hades eventually snaps and shouts ''I KNOW you know! I know! I get it! I get the concept!"
&&&&Films — Live-Action&
has this between Vizzini and the Man in Black, as he attempts to figure out . (See the Literature entry below.) Subverted in that Vizzini isn't really try he's just throwing possibilities at the Man in Black to see if any of them gets a reaction. If he were really playing this trope, he'd have realized that just as he wasn't about to leave the outcome to chance, the Man in Black wasn't about to leave it to chance either... If Vizzini were paying attention to his own line of reasoning, he might have realized that he was getting dangerously close to the truth (as shown by the Man in Black getting increasingly nervous in this scene in the book) that neither goblet was safe to drink from.
Monkeyed around with in ; see the page quote.
The Swedish movie The Shark Who Knew Too Much opens with the main lead chased by a helicopter while shouting this sort of dialogue. Given that he's spent his whole life masquerading as a group of identical triplets who can't stand each other's presence just to trick his father into giving him shareholder majority of the company, it's obvious there's a lot of deception involved.
In , Martin is interrupted while breaking into an office. In the course of inventing a plausible explanation for why he's there, he finds himself inadvertently entangled in one of these:
Martin: And never let him know that you know what he thinks you don't know you know... y'know?
and give him he— he...lp.
Give him head?! — Be a beacon?!
The villain of
does this while explaining to the muscle of the operation that he's going to demonstrate the power of his earthquake-shooting satellite by using it on a fertilizer plant in China: "[The fertilizer plant] is actually a secret chemical weapons testing facility. We know this. The Chinese know that we know. However, we pretend we don't know, and they pretend they don't know that we know that they know we know. But know that we know. In the end, everyone knows."
Inverted in a long-distance sort of way in , where throughout the entire battle, Colonel Hal Moore emphatically knew what his Vietnamese counterpart was going to try, whereas the Vietnamese CO emphatically did not. Specifically because the Vietnamese were using more or less standard tactics, and Moore, using a never-before-testing air cavalry method, was forced to make up tactics as he went along.
In , one version of the duel between Nameless and Sky is a
where they each mentally pitch their own set of skills against their opponents', each anticipating the other perfectly.
The Bride says this at the end of :
"As I said before, I've allowed you to keep your wicked life for two reasons. And the second reason is so you can tell him [Bill] in person everything that happened here tonight. I want him to witness the extent of my mercy by witnessing your deformed body. I want you to tell him all the information you just told me. I want him to know what I know. I want him to know I want him to know. And I want them all to know they'll all soon be as dead as
Hot Lead and Cold Feet has Don Knotts' Sheriff deliver this line regarding his arch-nemesis, Rattlesnake: "'Cause he's here and I know he's here. And he knows I know he's here! But he doesn't know I know he knows I know he's here, but I know. So I got the edge!"
White Goodman: Cuz I know you. And you know you. And I know that you know that I know that you know you.
Of course, Goodman is an established blithering idiot, so the scene itself is a parody, but the character thinks he's playing it straight.
A variation in the movie
Bob the Turk: I warn you, do not make me do something that I would not do, unless someone made me do it because they didn't do something someone told them to do. Gus Cardinale: Don't worry, Bob, I would never do something to make someone do something to someone, because that someone didn't do something that someone wanted them to do. Bob the Turk: I'm glad we understand each other. Gus Cardinale: ... Me too. (cue )
Wizard People, Dear Readers: "Then, dear readers, Harry notices a tear in Snake's pants and blood all over her leg, and Snake notices that Harry has noticed, and he notices she noticed that! I mean, there is a trade of noticing going on that is just bewildering."
Played with hilariously by Professor Hilbert in , when Harold mentions his narrator said "Little did he know":
I've written papers on "Little did he know." I've taught classes on "Little did he know." I once gave an entire seminar based upon "Little did he know." Sonofabitch, Harold. "Little did he know" means there's something he did not know. That means there's something you don't know. Did you know that?
In the film (and play) Romanoff and Juliet, The General (Peter Ustinov) goes back and forth between the U.S. and Soviet ambassadors, discovering the layers of intrigue: The Soviets have broken the American code. The Americans know this, and are feeding the Soviets misinformation. The Soviets are aware that it is misinformation and are pretending to be fooled by it. When the U.S. ambassador hears that, he is flabbergasted.
This was almost : see the Operation Gold example infra.
comes the great quote "You want me to think that you don't want me to go down there, but the subtle truth is you really *don't* want me to go down there!"
, several times, one of them also counting as a , as the discussion concerns two magazines called "Know Magazine" and "Now magazine"
Barbara Novak: You know I have no interest in seeing you.
Catcher Block: But you know you have to, and you know I know you have to. I'm sure you know how things are at KNOW ever since your new NOW.
Barbara Novak: I have no way of knowing how things are now at KNOW. I knew how things were at KNOW before NOW.
Catcher Block: Then you should know now at KNOW things are a lot like they are at NOW; we have to interview every applicant for every job, and so do you or you'd be going against NOW's definition of discrimination and you wouldn't want the readers of NOW or KNOW to know that, now would you?
And later:
Barbara Novak: Scooped you again.
Catcher Block: I knew you would.
Barbara Novak: I knew the minute I placed an ad as an equal-opportunity employer, you would be the first to apply.
Catcher Block: And I knew you knew and you'd let me in to ask you to marry me.
Barbara Novak: But you didn't know I'd say yes!
And Barbara's entire speech at the end where she reveals that she knew everything that happened in the movie would happen and planned the entire plot accordingly.
has this happen as Prince Akeem meets his :
Akeem: Listen, I know what I like, and I know you know what I like, because you were trained to know what I like, but I would like to know, what do you like?
Seen in . The musketeers have to break into the Tower of London. Milady, who's worked with them in the past, knows their methods which would allow Buckingham to set a trap for them. They know she knows their methods and will have Buckingham set a trap. She knows they know Buckingham will be prepared. The English capture D'Artagnan, who she knew they'd use to infiltrate while the others acted as decoys, assuming she wouldn't take him into account. Turns out, they knew she'd do that, he's the decoy, and they do something completely different.
An exchange from Scene of the Crime (1949):
Sleeper: Naturally, I know you know I know somethin'. Mike Conovan: I know you know I know you know somethin'.
&&&&Jokes&
An old joke, recounted in , involves a merchant seeing his rival getting off a train, and asking him where he's just come from. "From Minsk," the rival replies. "Aha!" "you are just saying that because you want me to believe that you have really just come from Pinsk!note& But I already knew that you really have just come from Minsk. So why are you lying to me?"
&&&&Literature&
A hilarious example that was formerly the
with mid-level villain Vizzini. He goes through all sorts of permutations on which goblet has the poison in it, based on his observations and the defeat of his minions. In the end, he was right in all his deductions, as every conclusion he reached was that he could not choose one of the two goblets, but he failed to take his deductions to the logical conclusion: his opponent had poisoned both goblets of wine. His opponent had spent four years building up an immunity to that particular poison.
series is renowned for its incredibly intricate layers-upon-layers of this kind of gambit.
alone features a subverted
(someone suspected of being a traitor who is both too obvious to be the real mole as well as , but actually turns out to be the traitor), followed by an elaborate mind game played by Thufir Hawat to set the Harkonnens against one another, and capped with Paul successfully bluffing and counter-bluffing the combined forces of the Bene Gesserit, the Imperium, and the Spacing Guild.
continues the pattern, only this time it's Paul's enemies pulling
aimed at forcing him to choose between his beloved and his Imperium. He knows they are doing this, but falls into the trap anyway, only to be rescued from it by the son who will later replace him as the most powerful prophet in the universe.
sets up a three or four-way struggle for control of the Imperium, with the demon-possessed Alia on one side, the Bene Gesserit on another, the remnants of the Corrinos as a third, and an unknown quantity in the form of Paul's children, Leto and Ghanima. Leto is captured by people whom he believes to be working for the Bene Gesserit, only to have it turn out that Alia is secretly calling the shots. He himself, however has a deeper plan that eventually trumps all of theirs and renders them moot.
not only has this essentially as a plot, right up to and including his own death, but Leto also lampshades it frequently.
has this played between the Bene Gesserit, Bene Tleilax and Honored Matres. The Bene Gesserit outplay the other two powers resulting in the Honored Matres destroying Tleilax and Rakis, the latter very much . This continues between the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres in
with the former having to use their knowledge and cunning to outmaneuver the latter's greater physical force.
Parodied mercilessly in the National Lampoon's , where two characters have a half-hour long conversation without knowing what the other is talking about.
Characters in the
are prone this. A particularly risible example is in , where Lymond, who is trying to help the Scottish forces, and knows his brother will disbelieve anything he says, LIES to him about the English intentions, knowing Richard will conclude the opposite.
The big reveal in Book XI of
relies on this type of logic played seriously. You can almost see it coming when it is occurring at an earlier point in the novel (some hints are dropped that something is going on at either rate), but when you learn precisely what took place in one character's mind as a result of , it forces you to
, where the nihilistic protagonist and the
who inspired
play this game.
plays this one straight in one of his mystery stories, "". Private eye
actually explains that this is the reason he can outwit the police and get his man. The police know wh the thief knows the police know. The difference between Dupin and the police is that Dupin knows the suspect knows the police know, and the police don't know that.
Vetinari plays a subtle form of this game off-screen in . His mail packets to and from Uberwald are always clearly tampered with, and his semaphore transmissions are always intercepted. This is all as expected, and he encrypts his communiques with codes that are almost but not quite unbreakable. He could come up with a cypher no one else on the Disc could break, but that would be far less useful. This way, only his most resourceful rivals (specifically, ) can read his messages, and then he knows exactly what they think he knows.
( books), part of
Thrawn's effectiveness in battle is based on his reputation: his enemies know fully well he's a nigh-unparalleled master strategist and tactician, so from their perspective each and every move he makes is like Schrodinger's Gambit, existing in a state of It's A Trap and It's Not A Trap until they open the box and the waveform collapses.
The climax of the third book brings this to an epic level. Thrawn knows that the New Republic wants to capture an important bit of technology, of which only three are known to exist, all on Imperial worlds. The New Republic knows that Thrawn knows this. They also know that one system is heavily protected while another is only lightly defended. Thrawn knows that they know this. The New Republic knows that Imperial Intelligence is very good and will pick up disinformation that shows an attack on the lightly protected system is in the works. Meanwhile they actually plan to attack the heavily-fortified one. (Because both sides know that the New Republic stands a better chance of victory in either case so long as Thrawn himself and his fleet aren't there.) Thrawn knows that the New Republic knows that his intelligence is that good, and that the "secret plans" are a deception, so he disregards those attack plans and prepares for the real attack. The one thing neither side knew was that the Smuggler companies had all agreed among themselves to back the Republic by hitting whichever target they didn't on the assumption that Thrawn would be at the real target and they would be well paid for succeeding where the military failed. The rebels thought they were on the other side and handed them the false lead, which they thought was a real tip, and so they showed up as unanticipated Rebel reinforcements completely by accident.
Duology, set a decade later, a trio of Imperials conspire very successfully to make it look like Thrawn is . When Han Solo finally sees the (fake) Grand Admiral and has his suspicions deftly countered, it's a shock. Thrawn was, after all, alarmingly good at anticipating what people would do.
Han: From now on, we can't trust anything we see. Anything we see, anything we hear, anything we think we ought to do. Not with Thrawn back on the scene. Lando: Thrawn or no Thrawn, the Empire is still . Maybe this is really all he's going for, hoping to confuse Coruscant so badly it just freezes up. Han: Who knows? That's what drives you so crazy about him. You try to do something and odds are it's exactly what he wanted you to do. You stand still and don't do anything, and he runs a smartrope around you.
Zhuge Liang's
(from the fictionalized parts of ) relies on this.
Zhuge Liang is the master of this trope. Various plans include:
Empty City: Zhuge Liang sits alone in an empty city playing his harp while a rival army comes up. They know that Zhuge is a genius and is obviously up to something. Knowing they would know this, the city really is empty, and the whole thing was a stall tactic. That worked.
Two Roads: Cao Cao is leading his army through a mountain pass when he comes to a fork in the road, one direction he can see a lot of smoke as you would expect
down the other he sees very little smoke. Obviously, the big smoke path is a ruse and the little smoke path is an ambush. Actually? I Know You Know I Know, the big path is the real army.
In Rohmer's "President Fu Manchu", the object is to find the villain's New York base. The police reason that since
is such a wily mastermind, and the first place "anyone" would look for him is Chinatown, that is really the LAST place he will hide. Only Fu Manchu expects them to reason like that, and moves into Chinatown. Only Nayland Smith figures that is exactly what he will think.
Played with in . Edward and Alice Cullen play a
game by using their abilities to figure out what move the other is going to make next... and countering... and being countered... and countering again... and so on.... The game is finished in their minds before two pieces are physically moved.
A children's book titled Finding Buck McHenry, about a man who may or may not be a retired pro baseball player, has the young narrator going, "I knew. And he knew that I knew. And I knew that he knew that I knew. Stop. You're making yourself dizzy."
The story Mack Henry eventuall he did play baseball as a young man, but he wasn't the same man the kids are confusing him with.
In Mistress of Dragons, Draconis knew that Edward knew that Draconis knew that Edward didn't trust him. I had to spend 5 minutes interpreting that.
In "Riding the Bullet", by , the main character is on the verge of freaking out when he dizzies his own mind with how he can't let the dead guy next to him know that he knows that he knows that he's dead (or something, I'm quoting from memory).
Sometimes both parties can "win" at this (or at least, two out of three can). In one short story in Future on Ice (edited by ), an immortal being finds two soldiers who're lost and starving to death, and it gives them each two boxes. It's observed them and claims it knows how they think, and if it predicted of one of them that he'd only open one box, it gave him food in one box, and in another box a device that will allow the user to become immortal if he so chooses. If it predicted one would open both boxes, one box will have food and the other will be empty.
points out that no matter what the immortal thought, they lose nothing now from opening both boxes. The immortal predicted that he'd do this, but not that his comrade would listen to him, so said comrade is the only one to get an immortality device. The thing is,
didn't want immortality, and he later figures out that the device in question actually disintegrates the user and creates an immortal copy.
In 's , Detachment 2702 exists to generate enough random noise to cover up the fact that the Allies have broken German and Japanese ciphers. It stands to reason that if the Axis finds out, they'll switch to a new cipher, so being able to act on the information they got without revealing they have this information becomes very important. P Detachment 2702 is fictitious, but using the information gained from broken codes without revealing that the codes were broken was a major concern for Allied Intelligence.
Discussed in . The Drasnian ambassador to Nyssa is bribing the staff of the Tolnedran embassy for information as part of his intelligence network. The Tolnedran ambassador knows this, and occasionally feeds his staff fake information as a result. The Drasnian ambassador knows this.
Silk: Does he know that you know? Ambassador: Yes, but I don't think that he's aware that I know that he knows that I know.
novel The Doctor Trap has an entire plot based off this. The villain is convinced the Doctor knows something the villain doesn't. Not really. The titular trap, the Doctor explains is what they think you know that they don't. Confused? Yeah,
A Fourth Doctor book has the Doctor going on and on like this, until Sarah Jane Smith tells him to shut up.
Sarah: You know they're lying. Doctor: Of course I know. And they know that I know. And I know that they know, and they know that I know that they know [etc., etc.]
novel Death and Diplomacy, deception is the
of the Saloi. And everyone knows that. And everyone knows that the Saloi know that everyone knows that. So everyone knows that the Saloi are trying to deceive them in the knowledge that they will assume everything the Saloi say is an attempt to deceive them. The ultimate example is their leader, who is obviously a figurehead for his senior advisor
except he isn't, he's actually the leader. And even he doesn't know that, although once he learns he starts to suspect everyone else did.
Subverted by
in a