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Originally Posted by Ken G
We can introduce a timing to it, and say that the next day there would be nobody who had figured out their eye color by the morning meeting of the tribe. But the day after, etc., your answer comes into play. Given that view, how long will the tribe survive?
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So
non-suicides contain information.
If I see only one blue-eyed person, and on the first day that person has not committed suicide, it implies they can see a blue-eyed person to account for the visitor's remark: so I must have blue eyes. I'll kill myself on the second day, as will the other blue-eyed person, who has used the same logic.
But if I see two blue-eyed people, and by the second day they haven't committed suicide, then I must have blue eyes.
And so on: so on the fifth day, all five blue-eyed people commit suicide. This informs the brown-eyes of their brown-eyed status, and they all commit suicide on the sixth day. (Assuming the tribe is aware that only two eye-colours are possible.)
Grant Hutchison