Twist on the Rats vs. Poisoned Wine Question

3 points by kseelig 6y ago ↗ HN

You have a 4 different vials of weak poisons. You get to decide how much of each vial to feed each rat. Each poison is a different strength and some poisons interact with each other to be more deadly than they wouldve been independently. You don't know the strength/interaction ahead of time.

You can't just choose to not drink any poison at all because you get paid $$ the more poison that your able to drink without dying, some poisons are worth more $$ to drink than others.

How do approach using rats to figure out the ratio of poisons that maximizes the total amount of poison that you'll be paid to drink but without going too far and dying?

1 comment

[ 0.25 ms ] story [ 9.7 ms ] thread

dinkleberg 6y ago ↗

Is this a classic problem? Or is this a strange circumstance you’ve found yourself in.

I guess this isn’t in the spirit of it, but I wouldn’t trust that the effects of poison on rats is the same it is on me. No amount of money would make me play this game, it doesn’t matter how much you make if you are dead.