There are 12 choices, 23 votes for ennoia's debate

The puzzle of the two tribes...

Suppose you are stranded on an island, post shipwreck. You manage to find out this information:

There are two tribes on the island. One of these tribes is a tribe of tourist eating canibals, but the others are vegatarian. The canibal tribe ALWAYS lie. The veggies always tell the thruth.

Now, imagine you meet one of the tribes, yet you have no idea as which one you have just met. If you've just met the canibals, you'll want to get out of there pretty quick. You are allowed to ask one question to ascertain which tribe you are now faced with.

There IS a question you can ask, which will reveal exactly who you are faced with. (Don't just say i'd run either way...you're philosophers!)You are allowed one question and nothing but this one question.

What is it?

Happy philosophising...


  • hard at first but after thinking, it;s easy

    hehehehe, good one, but i have figured it out. you have to catch them in an obvious lie. and being that the canibals never tell the truth, you must ask them a question in which you already know the answer too.

    so the question can range from what colour the sky is, what sex you are (male female) how many you are. but the one that i thought up first is weather it is night or is it day?

    with these questions, your complicated puzzle becomes easy.

    13%  Voted for by Kazrith, NNYAnime, pwincessovfantasy.
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  • oookkk

    wich language do the tribes speak? lol

    13%  Voted for by princessarya, NeedsLNow, pwincessovfantasy.
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  • this one.

    What would the other tribe say when asked the question "are you the cannibals"? Asked "are you the C-s", the C-s would say No (lie), and the vegetarians would also say No. So if asked what the others would say, the Cs would lie (anwser: Yes) and the Vs would tell the truth (ans:No). Now here is another problem: it isn't of much use finding out who is who. Is there a way to make the Cs unable to eat me? Meaning forcing them to give an answer which would be true in case they ate me.

    13%  Voted for by Drabarno Ruv, razvan784, kage069.
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  • Easy.

    "Are you human?"

    13%  Voted for by justonewish, minniemouse, pwincessovfantasy.
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  • i heard a riddle like it

    you ask him to take you to his village, if he is a cannibal he'll take you to the veggies' village, if he is a veggie, he'll still take you to the veggies' village, that way you'll be in the veggie, not cannibal, village and outta danger, right?

    8%  Voted for by Drabarno Ruv, RothMcVeReagan.
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  • Easy Peasy

    Hand them a carrot, ask them to eat it and if they like it lol.. Or you could ask them to smile.. the sharp pointed teeth might be a clue..so might the bone necklaces..

    8%  Voted for by Embers of Elm, pwincessovfantasy.
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  • Nice try, but not what the puzzle demands...

    Aha, I don't think I made myself absolutely clear, my apologies.

    Obviously you could ask a simple question to which you already know the answer, but remember, this isn't reality, this is a logic puzzle. - Why the hell would you be in that situation, with that particular select knowledge, anyway?

    (Besides, perhaps the tribe have different concepts to you about colour, male/female, light/dark.)

    So let me clarify. The question you want to ask is one that you DO NOT already know the answer to, but lest you hear it, you will immediately be able to determine which tribe it is before you.

    All the information you are provided with is important, so perhaps the question you ask is related to that...

    Any ideas?

    8%  Voted for by Drabarno Ruv, ennoia.
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  • i'm so clever

    i know the answer... same as cosmosis... but the ppl who try to be clever annoy me... 'what language do they speak'.... urrr.... thats kinda not the point.... lol just thought i'd say that. see who gets offended.

    Voted for by Bob the Elder.
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  • For greater certainty

    Alternatively, since the scenario doesn't specifically state that the liars are also impelled to act dishonestly, you could ask the question: "If you were the other tribe would you say you would eat me?" if they reply "yes" - run like hell.

    Voted for by bagger.
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  • my question

    My question would be: why don't the cannibals eat each other?

    Voted for by ire.
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  • i know!

    ask the tribe if this statment is a lie (the statment that you are refering to is the statment that you just made).

    If the tribe is cannable they will lie. If they were to respond yes that the statment is a lie then the statment must be the truth. However if the statment is the truth, then it is a lie. So if the cannables were to respond at all to this question it would be a truthful responce, which they will not do. So if it is the cannable tribe they will be able to give no responce.

    Oh the other hand if it is the veggi tribe, they will have to tell the truth. If they say yes to this quesstion, then it is the truth that the stament I made was a lie. I would work the same way if the statment were al lie.

    So if it is the veggi tribe, you will recive a yes or no answer, but if it is the cannable tribe you will get no answer at all.

    The key to this question is asking a peradoxial question.

    Voted for by drastic plastic.
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  • what you do is this

    you ask "who would the other tribe say was the cannibals?" if u asked this question to a veggie he would say that a cannibal would say that the veggie was the cannibal because the veggie knows that the cannibals will lie about being cannibals and try to make the veggies seem evil. if u asked this question to a cannibal, he would say that the veggie tribe would say that the veggie tribe was the cannibals because a veggie tribe would normally say that the cannibal tribe was the cannibals but since you are asking a cannibal the question he will lie and say that the veggie tribe would admit to being a cannibal. both tribes would give the answer that the veggie tribe was the cannibals. so you go with the tribe that was claimed to be the cannibals. i hope my explanation didn't confuse anyone. i had to rewrite it a bunch of times so it made sense when i wrote it. if you don't get what i wrote please leave a comment and i'll be happy to explain my answer again

    Voted for by cosmosis.
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