Saavik: "Sir, may I ask you a question?" Kirk: "What's on your mind, Lieutenant?" Saavik: "The Kobayashi Maru, sir." Kirk: "Are you asking me if we're playing out that scenario now?" Saavik: "On the test, sir. Will you tell me what you did? I would really like to know." McCoy: "Lieutenant, you are looking at the only Starfleet cadet who ever beat the no-win scenario." Saavik: "How?" Kirk: "I reprogrammed the simulation so it was possible to rescue the ship." Saavik: "What?" David: "He cheated." Kirk: "I changed the conditions of the test. Got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose."
An example of solving a problem by changing the conditions surrounding the problem:
One of the StarTrek movies mentions the KobayashiMaru, a training scenario for hopeful captains. There's no way to succeed; no matter what you do, you're destined to lose. Starfleet used it as a test of character, to see how people handle no-win situations. Cadet James T. Kirk (later known as CaptainHornDog) created a successful solution by modifying the simulation.
The scenario is described in detail at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru . The main things that disappoint about this is that the movie never explained
- how Kirk got access to the simulation
- what conditions he changed
- how hacking the thing proves anything about original thinking
In the spirit of blowing off a few minutes, here's what I think would have been entertaining:
- Kirk got access to the simulation by seducing its lady programmer. How else does Kirk get access to anything?
- The conditions Kirk changed were to posit the existence of a race of omnipotent beings which he called "The Organians" who would stop hostilities before they started. After all, since the KM scenario occurs in the neutral zone, which was only set up in TOS episode "Errand of Mercy" when Kirk was a captain, it can't very well have been a test that Kirk ran as a cadet unless the entire episode "Errand of Mercy" is a mere dramatization of Kirk's hack. Or maybe the Q listening in and thinking it was a good idea so may as well make it real. Or something like that.
- Seducing lady programmers always requires original thinking. --PeterMerel
See LateralThinking