Traveler’s Dilemma: When it’s smart to be dumb
Some game theory paradoxes can be resolved by assuming that people adopt multiple personae, and aren’t rational.
Now that the airlines are done with it, your suitcase looks like a gorilla stomped on it. The antique vase you’d packed so carefully is smashed.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/9328.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/9354.jpg?resize=300%2C223&ssl=1)
Never fear, the airline representative reassures you. The airline will reimburse you for the value of the vase. You just have to agree on what it’s worth, and the representative has a scheme to figure it out. One of your fellow passengers, it turns out, had an identical vase, which is now identically smashed. Each of you will say what you think the vase is worth, between $2 and $100. If the two prices are the same, the representative will assume you’re telling the truth. If the values differ, he’ll figure the lower value is accurate and reimburse each of you that amount — with a $2 bonus for “honesty” for the lower bidder and a $2 penalty for the higher one.
What will you say the vase is worth?