Sorry man, I am a bit late.
We were discussing island survival in another thread, and it reminded me of this one.
1st, congrats to those who got the correct answer. I incorporated
@moleculo's version into my big plan, but I did not name it as my primary option. Thus, I failed the official riddle. However, I will still defend my losing answer.
I now acknowledge that the riddle was looking for the "technical answer" to escape, but I never really approached it from that angle. Rather, I saw 2 questions in the riddle.
1) In the title of the riddle:
2) In the text of the riddle:
Therefore, I am primarily focused on answering the
bold above. My goal is to maximize my survival percentage while being as ethical as possible.
My first consideration is the kidnappers themselves and what they said to me. The quote below contains all of the information passed to me
by the kidnappers:
I am taking this riddle literally and am assuming that
no other information was given to me. From this, I can construct my basic theory on the situation.
- I have a satellite phone with one minute of battery life.
- I have been instructed to not use it before daylight.
- I am to call "my people" to let them know that I am not dead.
- If "my people" pay their ransom, I will be retrieved.
- If my people do not pay their ransom, I will be left in place, with no future supplies from the kidnappers.
Now, what is not said?
- The kidnappers provide no information on how to contact them for payment details. Therefore, they must be in a position to make the needed contact with "my people". How will they do that? They will be tracing my call - and most likely be listening in. It is their phone after all. This is the only way that a deal can be reached because neither I, nor "my people", know how to contact them. They will have to make contact later with whomever I call.
- The kidnappers do not say how many calls I am allowed. They only give me a total battery life time. Will they cut off my phone after the 1st call even if I do not use all of my minute? I would do this, as I can now deal directly with the contact.
- If they are listening in, will they cut off the phone if they suspect that I am providing information that will allow a rescue operation? Most definitely, imo.
- If they are listening in, will they come and retrieve me (or kill me) if I successfully pass along info that will allow a rescue operation? I don't know, but I think it depends on the potential profit. If I am a likely big $$$ guy, then it may be worth it to move and try again. If I am not that lucrative, then a bullet to my head from off shore would do nicely. They are closer to me than any rescue team and have the time and motive to make this a loss for my party. I do not think that they would just allow my rescue; it would not be good for their reputation.
- In this scenario, is it possible for me to successfully pass along info that would allow for a rescue? Yes, but I argue that it is a long shot that must be deftly handled.
Therefore, I still believe that my original position of preparing to pay the ransom is the higher percentage play here - if I want to survive.
At this point, I am going to quote my earlier thoughts:
,
I have addressed the bold at the top after thinking more on it. I now believe that the kidnappers must be listening in and must be the ones to make contact with "my people".
At this point, Moleculo convinced me that his plan was good. Not 100%, but good.
OK, after thinking more, I may not have the chance to make a 2nd call. Thus, all things pertaining to that are conditional. Will I be able to get it past the kidnappers successfully and safely? I do not know, but even if I do, would it work? Or, would I be moved or killed? I do not know.
However:
Therefore, I do not think that the answer requires any further detail.
OK, I know this is a "wrong" answer, and I did not really type it all up coherently, but I at least wanted to defend my position.
Thnx again for the riddle
@Juxtatarot. This was fun.
