That scene is both poignant and kind of stupid, which makes me think it’s accurate to actual procedures. If the lieutenant shoots the captain for refusing to turn his key, how does that accomplish the goal? (Not that I want the goal reached, I’m just curious here.)
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Tell all the prisoners that you’ll free any prisoner who stops an escaping prisoner so they can be shot.
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One round barometer.
Problem solved. (⌐■_■)
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I do not find these trolley problems amusing.
ETA - Ha! I typed T R O L L. I knew you’d do that BBB! Saved me two keystrokes!
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Your job is to make all 100 prisoners realize they will be shot if they run away.
Tell the prisoners that nobody will get shot (and they will all be allowed to escape) as long as they WALK away. The first person who runs will get shot.
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The actual proposed solution…
… doesn’t actually work. Perfectly rational prisoners would agree among themselves to discard their pieces of paper, and then you wouldn’t be able to figure out which prisoner had the lowest number. And perfectly rational prisoners aren not going to stop, while running away, to show you their pieces of paper. And if I were one of the perfectly rational prisoners, I’d start running away before all the pieces of paper were handed out.
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Appoint half of the prisoners as deputy guards for two weeks, with the understanding that the prisoners will swap roles after two weeks.
Wait, no, that’s the Stanford Prison Experiment.
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What pieces of paper? I just let them go. Goodbye! Safe journey home!
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Simultaneously waiting to say that I don’t want to engage with this ugly hypothetical, and wanting to say that the proposed proof-by-induction solution makes perfect sense, and can be done with public information and without slips of paper. But I’m not going to argue the proof because of point one…
Now, if anyone wants to discuss that puzzle about dragons with different colored eyes, I’m all for it, I love those kinds of puzzles.
Or the one with the lightbulbs and two switches, particularly if someone then posts the imagined discussion by Richard Feynman.
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My solution is this:
Hand the gun with one bullet to the Warden and tell him you quit this bullshit job.
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Someone isn’t getting any jackboots for their birthday.
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I would posit that Frauenfelder just tosses these brain teasers into the water to garner engagement without ever providing the solution, which sucks. We still have to hear the resolution of the lazy electrician puzzle, man. What are you even doing
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Saving two keystrokes? Masterful.
Spending 85 keystrokes to gloat? priceless
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I lock the gate.
I am reminded of the ending of Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid:
Your having that gun won’t stop us, Herr Reardon. We are a dedicated people, willing to sacrifice ourselves! There are only six bullets in that gun. There are nine of us. Thus at least three will survive to throw those switches.
But who’s going to win the lottery…and who’s going to lose?
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So what do you do about the prisoners now coming over to beat you to death, on the grounds that you can’t possibly shoot them all?
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Explain that I am not here to prevent them from running but to protect them from predators, if they wish to run it will save the cost of a pursuit.
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We’re waiting.
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The correct answer of course is gamify the system. Add some achievements, reward with some stickers, and use AI generated content so they never want to leave the… oh sorry I though we were talking about social networks.
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Is this a Project 2025 employment screener? /S
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