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Topic: What must You say to survive? (Read 10264 times) |
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thomamat68W
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What must You say to survive?
« on: Sep 16th, 2012, 9:11am » |
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You encounter a man as you travel.
The man says, "If you lie to me I will kill you with my knife. If you tell me the truth, I will kill you with my gun."
Assume that if you try to fight or escape, you will be killed.
What must you say to survive.
(credit goes to The Yellow Book of Riddles)
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towr
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #1 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 11:31am » |
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Nothing would be a good option, since you would be neither lying nor telling the truth, least of all to him. Also, actions speak louder than words, so punch him in the face.
Note, however, that regardless of what you do, he might shoot his knife at you without having lied*) , since A->B does not imply ~A -> ~B. Which again speaks in favor of punching him in the face before he gets the opportunity.
[edit]*) Also, http://bit.ly/10i77 [/edit]
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| « Last Edit: Sep 16th, 2012, 11:38am by towr » |
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thomamat68W
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #2 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 11:40am » |
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If you say nothing then you are essentially at a stalemate. Yes technically you would survive but not what I was going for. As for being shot with the knife, wouldn't that be a paradox? 
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| « Last Edit: Sep 16th, 2012, 11:43am by thomamat68W » |
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thomamat68W
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #3 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 11:42am » |
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Also punching him in the face counts as trying to fight, so he would kill you.
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towr
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #4 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 12:52pm » |
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on Sep 16th, 2012, 11:40am, thomamat68W wrote:| wouldn't that be a paradox? |
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No, compare it with "if it rains, the grass get wet", but if I water the lawn the grass gets wet even if it doesn't rain. So the lawn might get wet anyway.
I might get knifed and shot regardless of whether I lie or tell the truth, or neither. Getting shot with a knife is an unambiguous way to get killed by both at the same time without a fuss of which of the two kills me (as might be the case if I get knifed and shot separately).
Besides, the solution you want is a paradox, isn't it? 
"You will kill me with your knife." If it's true, you'd get shot; but then it's a lie (or at least, not true), so you get knifed; but then it's true, so you get shot, etc.
Of course, if he takes both options ...
Quote:| Also punching him in the face counts as trying to fight, so he would kill you. |
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Then I didn't punch hard enough! 
Besides, that's not just trying, either.
Actually, there are a lot of possible solutions, because Lots of things you can say have no truth value. You could say "Hello there!" or "Pizza" or "Razza-frazza". Or you could say any number of things where he can't know the truth (which, I suppose is the category the intended answer falls in, but there's also a broad range of non-paradoxical unknowns).
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| « Last Edit: Sep 16th, 2012, 12:59pm by towr » |
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thomamat68W
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #5 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 12:59pm » |
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Yes, I was looking for a paradox; which you have already said You will stab me with your knife
Not the hardest riddle, but that's why I stuck it in easy.
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| « Last Edit: Sep 16th, 2012, 1:36pm by thomamat68W » |
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Grimbal
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #6 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 1:30pm » |
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And there is the possibility that the man was lying when he said how he would kill you. Frankly, would you trust a man whose first words are to threaten your life, without even a hello, to care about holding his word?
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thomamat68W
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #7 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 1:34pm » |
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There are lots of things you could say without him killing you; however, until he allows you to pass or he kills you, you'll be standing there forever.
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peoplepower
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #8 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 1:52pm » |
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I was traveling to this man.
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thomamat68W
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #9 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 1:58pm » |
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Is that an answer, or a statement?
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towr
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #10 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 10:44pm » |
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on Sep 16th, 2012, 1:34pm, thomamat68W wrote:| There are lots of things you could say without him killing you; however, until he allows you to pass or he kills you, you'll be standing there forever. |
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Ah, but on what condition will he let you pass? There isn't any mention of that.
Besides, if he lets you pass, then you've escaped, but if you escape, he'll kill you. 
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| « Last Edit: Sep 16th, 2012, 10:44pm by towr » |
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marsh8472
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #11 on: Sep 16th, 2012, 11:50pm » |
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| hidden: | | Maybe just say "I am lying" (liar paradox) |
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thomamat68W
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #12 on: Sep 17th, 2012, 5:52am » |
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as for what towr said, I used "escape" because if I said "run", people's answer would be, "I would walk away." I'm not sure how to word it better
Yes marsh that is also correct.
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| « Last Edit: Sep 17th, 2012, 6:04am by thomamat68W » |
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Grimbal
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #13 on: Sep 17th, 2012, 8:11am » |
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Assuming the man is committed to make your sentence true or false, and he will hold his word, and he cannot kill both ways.
Say: "You will kill me with your gun in no less than a 1000 years, or with your knife in less than 1000 years."
Whether it is true or false, he has to kill you, and he must do so after a 1000 years. This implies he has the obligation to keep you alive for that long. Not a bad compromise if you have to get killed anyway.
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| « Last Edit: Sep 17th, 2012, 8:11am by Grimbal » |
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towr
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #14 on: Sep 17th, 2012, 8:51am » |
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Great idea, Grimbal!
You will kill me with your gun just moments before I would otherwise die a natural death, after having served me a lifetime as faithful servant and providing me riches and the means for happiness beyond imagining, or you'll kill me with your knife.
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| « Last Edit: Sep 17th, 2012, 11:42am by towr » |
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thomamat68W
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #15 on: Sep 17th, 2012, 9:16am » |
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Very Good 
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cartoonle
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #16 on: Dec 11th, 2012, 12:17am » |
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Well obviously towrs answer is the solution it was looked for, but ... could you also survive if you would ask him a question? That's not a lie and not the truth ... it's the question ... 
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marlonmark
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #17 on: Jan 2nd, 2013, 2:10am » |
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but what if i faint and fall down on the ground then he will not try to trouble me right.
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sanaya
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #18 on: Sep 3rd, 2013, 2:06am » |
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I must say
You will kill me with the knife
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swapnilraja1212
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #19 on: Sep 17th, 2013, 12:39am » |
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I will kill that human first.
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alien2
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #20 on: Sep 17th, 2013, 3:05am » |
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I myself would beg for mercy. 
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Nursejim
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #21 on: Sep 21st, 2013, 11:25pm » |
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I think I would probably jusy say nothing. One way to survive.
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Nursejim
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #22 on: Sep 27th, 2013, 7:55pm » |
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They say grace is getting what you don't deserve and mercy is not getting what you do deserve.
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aiyanct
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #23 on: Nov 29th, 2013, 11:33pm » |
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If i might be there. I wont tell anything. Because whatever i do he will kill me. So its better to be keep mum. He gets irritate and leave me. 
Otherwise. I pluck both the weapons and ran away without seeing him back.
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UgoLocal02
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Re: What must You say to survive?
« Reply #24 on: Jun 12th, 2014, 1:09am » |
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i should say something meaning less to him not true answer nor a lie
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