Two people dead at a drink-off: clever lateral thinking puzzle solved
In a bizarre and deadly scenario, two individuals, Smith and Jones, found themselves in a precarious situation after being summoned by the Queen to participate in a mysterious ceremony. The objective was simple: bring a vial of poison from their own production facility, take a swig from each other's vials, and then drink their own poison. Sounds like a straightforward plan, but unfortunately, it proved to be a recipe for disaster.
According to the rules, if one person brings the strongest poison, they will survive, while the other person will perish. However, Smith and Jones were faced with an uncertain outcome due to the lack of knowledge about each other's production capabilities.
The puzzle masterminds behind this scenario cleverly crafted a situation where both individuals would have an equal chance of survival, as long as they could avoid bringing their own poison. To achieve this, they decided to take a risk and bring water instead of their strongest poison.
However, in doing so, they inadvertently became the culprits behind each other's demise. Each person drank the other's water before drinking their own poison, thereby ensuring that both would succumb to their own deadly concoction within an hour.
In essence, Smith and Jones failed to recognize that if one of them brought a weak poison, the other would likely bring water, leading to a fatal outcome for both. Their desperation to avoid death blinded them to this obvious solution, resulting in a tragic conclusion.
This puzzle has been circulating since its conception by Michael Rabin in the 1980s and was recently rediscovered by Timothy Chow, an American mathematician. It serves as a reminder that sometimes, the most unlikely decisions can lead to disastrous outcomes, even when intentions are pure.
In a bizarre and deadly scenario, two individuals, Smith and Jones, found themselves in a precarious situation after being summoned by the Queen to participate in a mysterious ceremony. The objective was simple: bring a vial of poison from their own production facility, take a swig from each other's vials, and then drink their own poison. Sounds like a straightforward plan, but unfortunately, it proved to be a recipe for disaster.
According to the rules, if one person brings the strongest poison, they will survive, while the other person will perish. However, Smith and Jones were faced with an uncertain outcome due to the lack of knowledge about each other's production capabilities.
The puzzle masterminds behind this scenario cleverly crafted a situation where both individuals would have an equal chance of survival, as long as they could avoid bringing their own poison. To achieve this, they decided to take a risk and bring water instead of their strongest poison.
However, in doing so, they inadvertently became the culprits behind each other's demise. Each person drank the other's water before drinking their own poison, thereby ensuring that both would succumb to their own deadly concoction within an hour.
In essence, Smith and Jones failed to recognize that if one of them brought a weak poison, the other would likely bring water, leading to a fatal outcome for both. Their desperation to avoid death blinded them to this obvious solution, resulting in a tragic conclusion.
This puzzle has been circulating since its conception by Michael Rabin in the 1980s and was recently rediscovered by Timothy Chow, an American mathematician. It serves as a reminder that sometimes, the most unlikely decisions can lead to disastrous outcomes, even when intentions are pure.
, this drink-off scenario is wild! I'm literally shaking my head thinking about how both Smith and Jones messed up 
. They were so desperate to survive they didn't think it through 
. Bringing water instead of poison was a super clever move by the puzzle masters 
, but for Smith and Jones, it was a death sentence 
. It's like they were playing a game of Russian roulette without realizing how many rounds were left 
. Can you even imagine being in that situation? 
The whole thing is just so tragic and I think we can all learn from their mistake 
.
. Bringing water instead of poison was like, super obvious... to anyone who's played this before 
. But I guess when you're in that situation, desperation can set in 
. Anyways, glad they solved it but still kinda sad about how it ended 
?
... but I guess desperation can get in the way of good judgment at times 
.
. A drink-off to die? Who thought that was a good idea? 
. And what's with the whole "equal chance of survival" thing? That's just a fancy way of saying they should've just done some basic math and avoided bringing water altogether 
. It's like they wanted to die, not solve a puzzle 
. This whole situation is just ridiculous 
.
I feel so bad for their families and loved ones. It's like they were playing with fire and got burned. 
And what's with the Queen's involvement? Was she aware of the outcome or was it just a wild guess? 
it's so wild how they ended up killing each other by taking a risk that seemed like the safest option at the time... i mean who tries to bring water to a poison exchange lol? and the math behind it is insane, it's like they thought they were being clever but really they just got outsmarted by their own desperation 
. The puzzle itself is pretty clever, but I guess you could say they drank from the same poisoned chalice... literally 
️. It's a good reminder to think things through and not make assumptions about others' intentions. And yeah, it's been around since the 80s, so maybe that's just old news now 
I'm just glad no one else got hurt in this silly game... I mean puzzle. I can see why it's been around for so long, it's just so... humanly flawed 
. And yeah, I guess you could say they were blinded by desperation 
... or maybe just not smart enough 
.
. And on the other hand, I'm so annoyed that they didn't think of the obvious solution... like, what were they thinking? 
.