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Post #213138

Author
Number20
Parent topic
Help with a logic puzzle
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/213138/action/topic#213138
Date created
24-May-2006, 7:16 PM
This is similar to a problem that economics talks about in decision making and game theory. It is called the prisoner's dilemma. I'm doing this from memory, but I think it goes like this...

Two criminals are captured after robbing a bank. The prisoners have the following choices. If neither of them talk and refuse to cooperate with the police, they will only serve one year on another minor charge. If one of them talks, and the other refuses, the police will release the one who talks on time served. The one who refuses to talk will get 20 years in jail. If both of the talk, they will both serve 5 years. What should they do?

According to the theory, whey will both talk. Each prisioner will be only interested in minimizing their own time in jail. Since they don't know what the other prisoner will do, the most logical decision will be to talk so they will serve the lowest time.