The Brute as Hero

Abstract

Douglas R. Hofstadter once proposed a competition to the readers ofScientific Americanin which a prize of one million dollars was offered. Sort of. To put it more precisely, the amount of the prize depended in an inverse way on the number of competitors. If only one competitor entered, that individual would receive the full million dollars. But if there were two competitors, then one of them, determined by lot, would receive half a million dollars. If there were three competitors, then one of them, again by drawing lots, would receive $333,333.33, and so on. If there were a million competitors, then the lucky winner would increase his or her net worth by just one measly dollar.