Schelling's Answer to Armed Robbery

A man breaks into my house. he hears me calling the police. But, since the nearest town is far away, the police cannot arrive in less than fifteen minutes. The man orders me to open the safe in which I hoard my gold. He threatens that, unless he gets the gold in the next five minutes, he will start shooting my children, one by one.

What is it rational for me to do? I need the answer fast. I realise that it would not be rational to give this man the gold. The man knows that if he simply takes the gold, either I or my children could tell the police the make and number of the car in which he drives away. So there is a great risk that if he gets the gold, he will kill me and my children before he drives away.

Since it would be irrational to give this man the gold, should I ignore his threat? This would also be irrational. There is a great risk that he will kill one of my children, to make me believe his threat that, unless he gets the gold, he will kill my other children.

What should I do? It is very likely that, whether or not I give this man the gold, he will kill us all. I am in a desperate position. Forutnately, I remember reading Schelling's The Strategy of Conflict. I also have a special drug, conveniently at hand. This drug causes on to be, for a brief period, very irrational. I reach for the bottle and drink a mouthful before the man can stop me. Within a few seconds, it becomes apparent that I am crazy. Reeling about the room, I say to the man: 'Go ahead. I love my children. So please kill them.' The man tries to get the gold by torturing me. I cry out: 'This is agony. So please go on.'

Given the state that I am in, the man is now powerless. He can do nothing that will induce me to open the safe. Threats and torture cannot force concessions from someone who is so irrational. The man can only fless, hoping to escape the police. And, since I am in this state, the man is less likely to believe that I would record the number on his car. He therefore has less reason to kill me.

While I am in this state, I shall act in ways that are very irrational. There is a risk that, before the police arrive, I may harm myself or my children. but, since I have no gun, this risk is small. And making myself irrational is the best way to reduce the great risk that this man will kill us all.

Found in Parfit's Reasons and Persons