It was presented by moral and political philosopher Gregory S. Kavka in "The Toxin Puzzle" (1983), and grew out of his work in deterrence theory and mutual assured destruction.
Kavka's original version of the puzzle is the following:[1] An eccentric billionaire places before you a vial of toxin that, if you drink it, will make you painfully ill for a day, but will not threaten your life or have any lasting effects.
You are perfectly free to change your mind after receiving the money and not drink the toxin.
The paradoxical nature can be stated in many ways, which may be useful for understanding analysis proposed by philosophers: Since the pain caused by the poison would be more than off-set by the money received, we can sketch the pay-off table as follows.
[2] The rational outcome of your deliberation tomorrow morning is the action that will be part of your life going as well as possible, subject to the constraint that it be compatible with your commitment—in this case, compatible with the sincere intention that you form today to drink the toxin.