[sudhanshuswami]

Mother should say, that, you are going to put my child in your mouth. If croc have intentions to eat him up, he will start it by biting or keeping him in mouth... so her statement goes true... croc needs to leave him.

This post has been edited by sudhanshuswami: 07 October 2009 - 06:35 PM

[patsfan565]

she says you will eat my child

[ZAnDER]

Just say "you will either eat my child or give it back to me"

[Xin]

Just say nothing. Your child will live to an old age in the jaws of a crocodile. In the end, same result.

Xin

[Bobcat]

one way to save the boy,

Spoiler for

the mom says "you will eat the boy"
if she was lying the boy would die but then she would be telling the truth so she would get the boy.
but then she would lying so it's an infinite loop

[doraz]

The mom should say:"You will eat the boy".
Why?
The crocodile has 2 options to do with the boy:
1) Eat him.
2) Give him to his mother.
If he planned to eat him, and the mother said that, then she would answer correctly, and the boy would be returned, as promised.
But if the crocodile planned to give him back, then the mother answered incorrectly, at that point the crocodile would eat the child, and the mother actually guessed the boy's fate correctly - The boy would have to be returned, as promised.

[ylayali]

She will say "You will eat him." Either way, right or wrong, she will have predicted the correct fate ad infinitum.

This post has been edited by ylayali: 08 February 2010 - 08:04 PM

[Chaos Fire]

I thought that if she said: "You'll eat my child!"
If the crocodile eats him, he would have to give it back.
If the crocodile spares him, he can eat him.

If she said: "You'll spare my child."
If the crocodile eats him, she would be wrong.
If the crocodile spares him, she would be right.

I think imtcb's answer is the most correct.

[Brickhead]

rookie1ja, on 09 June 2007 - 12:56 PM, said:

Crocodile Sophism - Back to the Paradoxes

A slim crocodile living in Nile took a child. Mother begged to give him back. The crocodile could not only talk, he was also a great sophist, and so he stated: "If you guess (Edited: predict the fate = guess correctly), what I will do with him, I will return him. However, if you don't guess his fate I'll eat him." What statement shall the mother make to save her child (what about a vicious circle ...)?

First post here.
Sorry if I'm repeating anything that's been said.
Or giving an answer that's been giving.
Didn't have time to read all the post.

The Mother's reply should be.
"I will neither predict nor guess
therefore insuring the child's fate to be eaten.
Eliminating the 50/50 factor.
Therefore her response is 100% correct ensuring the return
of her child.

But this can only be based on what definition were using for sophist.
The ancient def is deceit.
The modern def is virtue.

If it's the former then she has two possible actions to take.
1) Get a big a** branch and crack the Croc's skull.
2) Throw herself into the jaws of the Croc, sacrificing herself for her child.

If it's the latter, then the Croc has to comply.

[jeffery12109]

I would take a machine gun and shoot the croc