Release Message:  If a crocodile steals a child and promises its return him if the father can correctly guess exactly what the crocodile will do, how should the crocodile respond in the case that the father correctly guesses that the child will not be returned?

Description:  The transaction is logically smooth but unpredictable if the father guesses that the child will be returned, but a dilemma arises for the crocodile if he guesses that the child will not be returned. In the case that the crocodile decides to keep the child, he violates his terms: the father's prediction has been validated, and the child should be returned. However, in the case that the crocodile decides to give back the child, he still violates his terms, even if this decision is based on the previous result: the father's prediction has been falsified, and the child should not be returned. The question of what the crocodile should do is therefore paradoxical, and there is no justifiable solution. The crocodile dilemma serves to expose some of the logical problems presented by metaknowledge. In this regard, it is similar in construction to the unexpected hanging paradox, which Richard Montague(1960) used to demonstrate that the following assumptions about knowledge are inconsistent when tested in combination:[2] (i) If is known to be true, then . (ii) It is known that (i). (iii) If implies , and is known to be true, then is also known to be true. It also bears similarities to the liar paradox. Ancient Greek sources were the first to discuss the crocodile dilemma.[1]