how to troll a topologist.

A problem they will not solve: Take a torus with a hole in it. The fundamental group is, of course, the free group on two generators. Which reduced words on two generators correspond to simple closed curves [ie, no self-intersection]? It looks so easy. No, I do not have the answer.

Not accidental: in St. John Climacus' Ladder of Divine Ascent, Humility is before Discernment, and both are toward the very end of the Ladder.