Roland's Puzzle Challenge #13: The End of the World

[Roland Sackville]

Roland's Puzzle Challenge #13: The End of the World as We Know It
Difficulty: Very Hard
Google allowed? NO

"In my travels," Roland said, "I arrived in India, and found a temple with a large room in it. The monks there are part of a group known as the Brotherhood of the Six, and they believe that they know when the world will end.

In this room in their temple, there are three very large poles. On these poles are 64 golden cubes -- made of pure, solid gold, each one of diminishing size, with a hole in the center.

They believe that, when the universe was created, so were these poles -- the cubes arranged in perfect order. It is their holy duty to transfer all of these cubes, one by one, so they sit in perfect order on the third pole. But, their religion has several important rules governing the movement of these cubes -- you can never, under any circumstances, put a LARGER cube on a smaller one, nor may you place these cubes anywhere but on the poles - you can't take them out ofthe room, you can't hold them in your hand, you can't stash them in a corner, nothing. You may only move one cube at a time, from one pole to another.

They were quite fast -- every minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they moved one cube from one block to another. They work tirelessly, around the clock.

Assuming they are right, how long will it take them to finish, and for the world to end?"

[ASHLIE]

"Ooh that's simple." Ashlie smiles.

(2^64) - 1 minutes

[Roland Sackville]

"So, perhaps that's all the more reason to do your homework tonight, then, as the world won't be ending any time soon."