How is it not possible? When force is allowed, the hired people could simply physically restrain me - I'd fight them with tooth and nail, their vastly superior training would have me on the floor within a minute, after which I'd be kept separate from the vial of toxin for the remainder of the day. ... Although I guess "separation for a period of time"-based arguments rely on you both being obsessive AND pedantic enough to not care about it on the next day. Being really passionate about something and then dropping the issue the next day because the window of opportunity has been closed is ... unlikely to occur, so my solution might end up making me rich but leaving me in the looney-bin.
I think a better argument against my ideas is logistics - how could I acquire everything I need in a span of (at most) 23 hours? (The wording is a such that at tonight as the day turns, you must intend to take the poison). A middle class worker generally doesn't have ties to any mercenaries, and payment isn't given until the morning after your intent has to be made.
I get your point, though - convincing someone to later convince you already carries massive penalties ("Why are you acting so weird?"), the situation carries massive penalties ("And you believe this guy?", "For HOW MUCH?!")...
My argument basically rests on turning the whole thing into a game: "Design a puzzle you cannot get out of. Then, a few minutes before midnight (to be safe), start doing your utmost best to break this puzzle."
How is it not possible? When force is allowed, the hired people
Why would you hire people to stop you from drinking it, if you intend to drink it, since you know that hiring such people will increase the chances you will end up not drinking it?
I get your point, though - convincing someone to later convince you already carries massive penalties
NO! That's not my point. My point isn't whether it's expensive or difficult to hire someone, My point is that you don't want to hire someone. Because you intend to drink the toxin, and hiring someone to stop you from doing that doesn't match your intention.
You're given the option to torture everyone in the universe, or inflict a dust speck on everyone in the universe. Either you are the only one in the universe, or there are 3^^^3 perfect copies of you (far enough apart that you will never meet.) In the latter case, all copies of you are chosen, and all make the same choice. (Edit: if they choose specks, each person gets one dust speck. This was not meant to be ambiguous.)
As it happens, a perfect and truthful predictor has declared that you will choose torture iff you are alone.
What do you do?
How does your answer change if the predictor made the copies of you conditional on their prediction?
How does your answer change if, in addition to that, you're told you are the original?