278 replies to this topic

[solongandty]

She should answer that the crocodile will not return the child so that even if it is wrong it will be right

The croc could eat the child now and return it later

[shadow_angel]

the question is in 2 parts:
1) guess (correctly) what I will do with kid-->kid returned
2) predict kid's fate (wrong)-->kid eaten

Spoiler for

so the answer should be in 2 parts: 2 is easy to answer--kid will die 1 is the part creating paradox...you will open your mouth and show the kid your teeth--but you will not eat the child; thus he shall die but not as a result of your action.

I think this is right

[Toonz]

Mother will tell that croc is going to eat the child. In this way if croc accepts then it will return the child to mother. If it does not accept than it will eat the child, which makes the mother's guess correct; so in both the cases child will be with mother...

[bobzolzer]

The only solution is for the woman to state, "You will eat my baby!" If the croc even thinks about eating the baby then the woman is correct and the croc cannot eat the baby. If the croc says that it was going to release the the baby, therefore she's wrong, it still cannot eat the baby because then she'll STILL be right!!!!! DUH!

[GGJT]

Just like Rumplestiltskin the croc has now entered a pack. being slim he would eat the child, essentially, he will eat the child unless another factor changes his ability to do so. Kinda of like, I will walk out that door unless you can guess the number in my head. If you don't guess the number pi than I will go, but the sophism would have provided you with the fact that I was trying to calculate the area of a circle for my math homework and still am.

If the mother says that the croc will eat the boy, the croc can only giv the baby back and will not having eating the baby as an option because if it did attempt to do that at any point, it will forfeit the baby. By saying the croc will eat him, the croc can't eat him.

Either, the croc eats or gives back the child and given its condition who ever heard of a talking crocodile, their larynx isn't fit for speech nor would it have been trained to such knowledge capacity to think and exhibit speech while other animals can only mimic. Therefore, the mother should stop daydreaming or blazing.

Edited by GGJT, 07 January 2011 - 05:12 AM.

[ggilgarcia]

The croc is in serious problems due to the fact he is dealing with a human, I believe she would hunt him down and kill him slowly.... just to let him know how much pain he caused her... but before he dies she would hunt all his relatives and kill them before his eyes. until none were left. they he'd understand the price to pay for one child is to great. We are the masters and not the animals.

[Darth Legion]

If you tell the crocodile that he will eat him, the crocodile can't eat him without going back on his word.

[Micky B]

WELL she has to say "you will eat him." That way if she's wrong he will "eat him" which makes her technically right because he said if "you guess correctly" you'll get it back. Therefore she was right then, forcing the crocodile to return the baby.

BUT the stress and sight of a talking Crocodile might cause her to pass out from shock not being able to say anything forcing the crocodile to raise the child on his own till the woman can give him an answer. But let's face it, in todays economy, it will be impossible for him to find a job forcing him to rely on welfare checks to raise the baby. However, if the government finds out he's raising a baby that rightfully does not belong to him, child services will find him and take the baby away. The woman will by then hopefully woken up and claimed that a crocodile had kidnapped her baby.

THEREFORE, the child services will give the woman her baby back and the crocodile will go to jail for kidnapping.

SO the woman should technically do nothing.

-Micky B.

Edited by Micky B, 03 March 2011 - 09:30 AM.

[SilentBobSpeaks]

I would think that the only way to make ANY sense of the situation is for the woman to repeat back to the croc EXACTLY what he said to HER: "If I guess right, you'll give my baby back, if I dont, you'll eat him. That's what you'll do to him." He'd have to return the baby, because she's CORRECT NO MATTER WHAT. Eh? hehehe

Um, you may have constructed another paradox. What if the crocodile answers, "Yes, if you guess right, I'll give you back your baby, if you don't, I'll eat him. I'm glad you understood what I just said, now take your guess." It is hard to expect a crocodile who is a sophist and can speak perfect English to be so foolish as to include his desire (the answer) within the parameters of the trial, namely "I'll eat him." Will the crocodile eat the child in either scenario?

[dbanana97]

She should say, "Hold on just a sec." Then she should go, get a hammer, come back, and whack the crocodile on the head repeatedly.