hostages
Moderator: Moporators
hostages
So in many movies the villain takes a hostage and says something like "gimme moneh or I will kill him". How the hell does this work? Surely the villain will never kill the hostage since that would mean losing the advantage? I mean, if he kills the hostage then the police will immediately kill him lol.
Re: hostages
Yes they will kill him, but they will also have lost the hostage. Now, many countries have a whole "don't negotiate with terrorists" thing, which basically means they will pay no ransom, but do whatever they can to save the hostage. The idea here being that even if they do pay the ransom, there is no guarantee that the hostage will be released because the terrorist has nothing to lose.
The more interesting parts are when they ransom private people. "We have your son, pay or he dies." In this case there is a strong emotional attachment, and the father will comply with almost anything just to get his son back. Whether or not they intend to kill the son or not is irrelevant, because the father is in all likelyhood unable to think rationally at that point.
It's kind of like the exchange of prisoners after a war, except there is a death threat on one half and the other half is made of money.
The more interesting parts are when they ransom private people. "We have your son, pay or he dies." In this case there is a strong emotional attachment, and the father will comply with almost anything just to get his son back. Whether or not they intend to kill the son or not is irrelevant, because the father is in all likelyhood unable to think rationally at that point.
It's kind of like the exchange of prisoners after a war, except there is a death threat on one half and the other half is made of money.
<veezay> antti also gonna get stabbed later this month
<nick-o-matic> niec
My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
<nick-o-matic> niec
My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
Re: hostages
I just think it's frustrating to see, for example, a movie villain being allowed to do whatever he wants simply because he is holding a knife to someone's throat. Like, if he actually kills that person he immediately loses, so it's kinda like the whole threat doesn't really make sense strategically... Seems stupid somehow.
Re: hostages
Yes it makes sense because the "good" guys don't care if he dies, but they care if the hostage dies. It's a situation that only the villain can win, and depending on his intentions he could win no matter the outcome.kuchitsu wrote:I just think it's frustrating to see, for example, a movie villain being allowed to do whatever he wants simply because he is holding a knife to someone's throat. Like, if he actually kills that person he immediately loses, so it's kinda like the whole threat doesn't really make sense strategically... Seems stupid somehow.
<veezay> antti also gonna get stabbed later this month
<nick-o-matic> niec
My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
<nick-o-matic> niec
My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
Re: hostages
from the game theory perspective there are two nash's equillibria - "villain gets money and hostages survive" or "villain doesn't get anything and hostages die"
it's up to the "players" to choose the more suitable equillibrium
it's up to the "players" to choose the more suitable equillibrium
[carebox]