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supreme-leader-stoat

In front of you are five doors, each concealing one of the following: a random man, a hungry grizzly bear, a walrus, a fairy, and a car. Each door has something different behind it. The game show host, who knows what is behind each of the doors, has you select one of the doors at random and does not reveal what is behind it. Whatever is behind the door will pass into your ownership without taxes. After you make your decision he opens one of the doors of his choice which is not the door you picked and which he knows conceals neither the fairy nor the car. You have now eliminated either the man, the walrus, or the hungry grizzly bear from the pool of unknowns.

The game show host then offers you a chance to either keep your current door, or switch to another one of your choice, with a catch. A train full of your loved ones is currently hurtling down a track at high speeds towards another one of your loved ones, who is tied up on the tracks. If you change your choice of door, the train will be redirected away from your loved one and to another track with a man you do not know, a hungry grizzly bear, a walrus, a fairy, and two clones (complete with memories) tied up on it. One of the two clones is yours. The train is sturdy enough that neither option will cause it to derail.

At the same time, another person is playing an identical game, and if you both change which door you have picked, your trains will divert onto the same track in a head-on collision, killing many of both of your loved ones as well as everyone tied up on that track. As part of the game show, the studio is prepared to pay out money to you equal to the life insurance policies of any of your loved ones that die as part of the show.

Before you make your decision, the game show host hands you a gun. You must shoot one other person in the problem.

supreme-leader-stoat

Rave reviews in the notes!

supreme-leader-stoat

Alright, now that the voting period is over let's go over what we've learned:

• The amount of self-clone hostility was markedly higher than I anticipated.
• Assuming that they plan to switch their door/track afterwards, up to 11.4% of respondents figured out that they could ensure the safety of all their loved ones for the low low price of perpetrating or participating in six murders (other contestant, other contestant's loved one, both clones, strange man, fairy).
• The average respondent has a stronger urge to shoot the game show host than they do me, but only barely.
• One clever respondent figured out a workaround for my deliberate omission of an "I shoot myself" option by reblogging from themself and then voting to shoot the person they reblogged it from. Well played.
• More respondents voted to shoot the fairy than voted to shoot the walrus. I think I find this outcome more surprising than I would the inverse.
• I must regrettably inform you that, by murdering the game show host, you have just lost The Game.