At 6:59 AM -0700 7/26/96, Hal wrote:
First, the line is established before the proposals begin. So the proposer is not determined by lot, everyone knows who will be #1, #2, etc. Second, I think the proposer gets to vote. The wording is a bit ambiguous, but it just says that "they" vote, and I think "they" pretty clearly refers to the whole group.
Now here is the solution for two people:
#1 (first in line) proposes that he gets it all. #1 votes yes, #2 votes no. The proposal passes.
Here it is for three people:
#1 (first in line) proposes that he gets it all. #1 votes yes, #2 probably votes no (since he will get it all if the proposal fails, by the above) and #3 (end of line) reasons like this: if the proposal fails, he (#3) will get nothing because #2 will get it all. Therefore voting yes or no makes no difference to whether #3 stays alive (his first priority) or how much money he makes (his second priority). But it does make a difference in terms of keeping as many people alive as possible (his third priority). So he votes yes because of this third reason. Therefore the proposal passes and the first person in line gets it all in this case.
Of course, #1 could have offered some money to #3 and gotten his vote, but that would violate the terms of the problem: #1 wants to make as much money as possible. And since he can get #3's vote even while offering nothing to him, that is what he will do.
But Hal, these are Cypherpunks, which means some of them are smart and some are uh, er, um, not so smart. I would not want to be first in line. David