Ok apparently this question is all the rage on social media. I wouldn't know because this is the only social media I touch. I avoid the rest like a plague. But what I do have are about 150 teenage students. And if they are all talking about it, then it has to be some kind of social media craze.
I love my students, but they are only 15 years old so their brains aren't fully formed yet. In fact it will be about 10 years before their prefrontal cortex, the decision making portion of the brain, is fully developed. That means that by definition, teens are going to have some pretty unrealistic answers to the question, "Who would win in a fight 100 unarmed men or 1 gorilla?".
Some of my favorites have been the guys who say, "If I'm one of the 100, it is easily the 100 men because a gorilla doesn't know how to 'throw hands' like me." If you would like proof that these kids' brains are not fully developed, keep in mind that this kid weighs about 90 pounds... and he was not kidding about his "hand throwing" prowess. I did ask this student if he had any special skills like nun-chuck skills, bow hunting skills, or computer hacking skills. The reference and how hilarious I am was lost on them.
Another boy said that the 100 men would outsmart the gorilla. When I asked him how, he said "with their brains". I continued, "Yeah but how?" He said, "By thinking?" "How"? "With strategy." I gave up. I truly wish the kid had actually said "strateegery". I think I would have wet my pants laughing.
I do truly appreciate the guys who wanted to seem like they were putting thought into it with good questions like "It depends. What terrain are they on? Is it the jungle? Is it a parking lot?" Although I do appreciate them trying to think deeply about this, it is still a insanely strong freaking gorilla!
And for the record, every single girl said, 'The gorilla". They had no pride on the line so they let logic rule the day.
Although I did not shoot down any of their answers because I do want them to practice thinking and this is a great exercise, I did offer them my answer.
Without looking up any facts (because I'm an American damn it and that's how we like it!) I came up with this. Based on my knowledge of the film Gymkata, The Raid, every Bruce Lee movie, and the 100s of martial arts movies I watched as a kid, 100 men can never possibly attack one enemy simultaneously. They have to come in waves. Based on a completely random guess, I figure that a Gorilla has about an 8 foot wing span. Since we don't want to start the fight inside that 8 foot diameter but we still want to be close, that gives a circle with a diameter a little over 96 inches and a circumference of about 300 inches. I'm guessing each guy needs about 16 inches of space to himself so that means about 20 guys could surround the gorilla at one time (I figured some guys might start at a little angle so more dudes could fit.) So now the real question becomes, can 20 dudes beat up a full grown gorilla. Hell no! That freaking gorilla would swing 1 time at each guy and break some bones. Plus all the guys would be rushing the gorilla so there wouldn't be a lot of evasive maneuvers being taken. The gorilla would just need to swing wildly and would hit a few guys at once. If the men got cute and tried to spread out, that would leave a lot of 1 on 1 battles that the gorilla would instantly win. I don't know ho much a gorilla can lift but I bet you it is more than the number of men who could jump on him at any one time. The only hope for the men would be that the gorilla would get tired after crushing the first 80 dudes. But have you ever seen a gorilla at the zoo? All they do is rest and eat. They are jut waiting for 100 fools to come over that wall and step to them. Then the gorilla will "throw some hands" after he has ripped them off the guys' arms.
So what do you think? Who wins in a fight: 100 unarmed men or 1 gorilla?