You've been sentenced to death in an obscure foreign country which has a strange law. Before the sentence is carried out, two papers -- one with "LIFE" written on it and one with "DEATH" written on it -- are folded up and placed in a hat. You are permitted to pick out one of the papers (without looking), and if you choose the one with "LIFE" written on it, you are set free. Otherwise, the death sentence is carried out. But someone has substituted the paper with "LIFE" written on it with another one with "DEATH" written on it. You are informed by this person of what he has done and that you are doomed to die. You are not permitted to speak to anyone about this misdeed, nor will you have a chance to switch the papers yourself in time.

How will you avoid death?

(In reply to Common solution by Gamer)

...better still, eat the paper. Otherwise they can put the torn pieces back together to determine what you picked.

Then again, since this is a country of strange laws and since they seem to be so determined to kill you, they'll probably throw a law at you that says that eating or tearing the paper invites automatic execution by a firing squad.

Posted by Sanjay on 2003-06-29 07:25:53