Ah, interesting. A common scenario on TV cop dramas. Shows like "The Closer" have variations on this tactic on a weekly basis. Seems much rests on the skill of the interrogators and the ability of the 'suspect' to keep his/her mouth shut. Just on my observations from reading the news it's almost always better to remain silent and appear guilty then to blab and remove all doubt.(paraphrasing mr. clemens)
I think the mob would send dead canaries to discourage singing. dj On Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 8:35 AM, frantheman <[email protected]> wrote: > > The classic prisoner's dilemma comes originally from game theory, but > can also be used to examine particular moral situations. It's also > used for modelling certain economic situations. Here's the basic > scenario (copied from Wikipedia): > > Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient > evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit > each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies (defects) for > the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the > betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year > sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only > six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each > receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the > other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would > not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How > should the prisoners act? > > Francis > > On 7 Feb., 14:56, Don Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: >> I can't get your link to work. Is this that old Brit. tv show with #6 >> called "The Prisoner?" I didn't get that show for a while but it grew >> on me. It had quite the cult following back in the 80's but I haven't >> heard about it in years and years. >> >> In a moral dilemma, I believe the actionable person would do what >> he/she believes is in his/her best interests. If more then one person >> is involved there is likely to be lively debate and a probable fight >> in which the strongest and most determined will when. I'll stick with >> the moral axiom that women and children are first, old men and the >> crew go down with the ship. Of course, who knows how one will react >> when in a crisis? Self preservation is a wonderful motivator. >> >> I would allow people to sell their organs. If the healthy fellow was >> selfless enough to give up his organs in trade for something, i think >> he should be allowed to do so. I think it is wrong, of course, to >> kill one to save five. We actually have laws against this. >> >> dj >> >> On Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 3:31 AM, frantheman <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> > Welcome to the group, Pavan. >> >> > Such questions can be useful to start discussions, but I'm not sure >> > how much they solve. As Neil commented in another thread, setting >> > (context) is important, and in such questions the setting is usually >> > simplified. Sometimes I feel that such questions have the goal of >> > setting up objective rules, which we hope free us from the individual >> > responsibility of making a decision; 'I decided to do so, because >> > that's the (moral) "law",' can be a personal cop-out. The subject >> > cannot be reckoned out of the discussion. >> >> > One (simple) answer would be to apply the categorical imperative: >> > "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time >> > will that it should become a universal law." >> > —Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals >> >> > If you like such questions, the following link is an interesting >> > discussion of various aspects of "the Prisoner's Dilemma." It's not >> > short, but the method of presentation (a SF story) makes it >> > interesting: >> >http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/01/three-worlds-collide.htm > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
