View Poll Results: Which event would you prevent from happening?

Voters
14. You may not vote on this poll
  • Save your best friend from being killed in a car crash.

    5 35.71%
  • Save an airplane of a few hundred people from crashing in the ocean.

    2 14.29%
  • Stop an earthquake in Peru from destroying a town of a few thousand.

    7 50.00%
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 29 of 29

Thread: You can prevent one event from happening. Which do you choose.

  1. #16
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,544
    Articles
    60
    Blog Entries
    27
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Crop View Post
    I would no doubt pick option 3, but I do have a question. I can understand the difference between the first one and the second two, but if all victims are going to die in both scenarios, why would anyone pick option 2 over option 3? It makes no sense.
    You need to think about who would be on the plane, not the number of people. If the airplane was filled with doctors coming back from a conference or a international crisis, saving them could potentially save tens of thousands of people in their lifetimes.

    Again, there is no right answer, this question is simply a means to discover where one's moral compass lies and what motivates them to follow that path.

  2. #17

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post
    While I feel it's healthy to delve into a moral quagmire such as this question, there is actual a simple idea behind it. As I said in the original post, there is no right answer, and some of you might be overthinking this or missing the point.
    I have a degree in psychology but that does not mean I cannot shake my head about a these days overused topic and answers that I have read about it in certain forums or heard of in real life.

  3. #18
    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Wandering the Kakera
    Posts
    3,933
    Articles
    1
    Blog Entries
    146

    Default

    I'm a self-centered guy. I picked #1 without hesitation.

  4. #19
    Famine Wolf Recognized Member Sephex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
    Location
    Solar System
    Posts
    12,267
    Articles
    2
    Blog Entries
    55

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Freya View Post
    Well that could be said about any hypothetical situation. You can't ever know until it happens. But reminding everyone of that kinda ruins the fun of interaction of these questions. If you wont ever actually know then what's the point of asking? So people answering what they think they'd do is the closest you'll get to a real answer.
    Well, I'm not trying to ruin anyone's fun. My viewpoint is more along the lines that, just for me personally, a lot of the interest is killed simply knowing that saying something is easier than doing it.

    If anything, you can still make the discussion fun even considering my point. It brings something else to consider when making your choice. What would I say I would do VS what would I actually do? Am I one of those people that would say one thing, but then do another? So this is less of me fun sucking and more me fun blowing.

  5. #20
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Nowhere and Everywhere
    Posts
    19,544
    Articles
    60
    Blog Entries
    27
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Sephiroth View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post
    While I feel it's healthy to delve into a moral quagmire such as this question, there is actual a simple idea behind it. As I said in the original post, there is no right answer, and some of you might be overthinking this or missing the point.
    I have a degree in psychology but that does not mean I cannot shake my head about a these days overused topic and answers that I have read about it in certain forums or heard of in real life.
    Fair enough, but you and a few other people seem to be missing the fact this is less an Academia style question and more of a fun General Chat nonsense. Analyzing this question as though it was some de facto conclusion to morality is understood to be not the case here. If it was that easy to determine, we probably wouldn't have the kind of problems we do in life. On the other hand, an answer still gives some idea of where a person may stand on a subject in a neutral setting, but like with anything involving pyschoanalysis, a deeper investigation and study of a person is required to come to a better conclusion on where they may stand on such issues.

    In short, this is all fun and should be taken with the seriousness of a fourteen year old reading the question out of a teen mag to make them feel deep.

  6. #21
    Feel the Bern Administrator Del Murder's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Oakland, California
    Posts
    41,604
    Articles
    6
    Blog Entries
    2
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight
    • Former Administrator
    • Hosted the Ciddies

    Default

    You know, it was up in the air between the best friend and the town. Then I imagined the question was about my wife or one of my kids instead of my best friend, and the choice became obvious.

    Another fun question like this is:

    A train is about to hit a bus filled with 100 people, killing all of them. You can switch the track but that means the train would instead run into a small boy playing on the other track, killing him. Do you switch it?

    This is an interesting one since it deals with the consequences of action vs. inaction. More people die if you don't act, but at least you did not directly have a hand in their deaths. However, killing the boy would be entirely based on your action.
    Last edited by Del Murder; 10-06-2017 at 08:57 PM.

    Proud to be the Unofficial Secret Illegal Enforcer of Eyes on Final Fantasy!
    When I grow up, I want to go to Bovine Trump University! - Ralph Wiggum

  7. #22
    Trial by Wombat Bubba's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Shmocation
    Posts
    10,370
    Articles
    2
    Blog Entries
    2
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    If it was my boy then that would definitely make the decision harder. The right thing to do would still be to save the village. I honestly don't know if I could let my boy die...

    Del's dilemma would again be about saving the most lives. I would like to think I'd change the track... as guilty as I'd feel.

  8. #23
    Steve Steve Steve Steve Iceglow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Achievement City
    Posts
    8,250
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Del Murder View Post
    You know, it was up in the air between the best friend and the town. Then I imagined the question was about my wife or one of my kids instead of my best friend, and the choice became obvious.

    Another fun question like this is:

    A train is about to hit a bus filled with 100 people, killing all of them. You can switch the track but that means the train would instead run into a small boy playing on the other track, killing him. Do you switch it?

    This is an interesting one since it deals with the consequences of action vs. inaction. More people die if you don't act, but at least you did not directly have a hand in their deaths. However, killing the boy would be entirely based on your action.
    In your scenario, do you have a physical connection to the boy? Or anyone in the 100 on the other track?

    If not, then you would end up saving the most amount of lives. Logically it comes down to that. If you have a connection, then you would probably save the person/persons you have the connection to.

  9. #24

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve View Post
    If not, then you would end up saving the most amount of lives. Logically it comes down to that. If you have a connection, then you would probably save the person/persons you have the connection to.
    Everytime someones says "logically" because they transform lives into some mathematical value or social usefulness ...

    What if those 100 are serial killers? What if the father of that one person you chose to kill wants to prove you have chosen the "wrong way" by avenging the death of his son and killing 1 million people instead? You cannot solve this with math or utilitarism. It hurts me when people think lives have a mathematical value that can outweigh the opposing value by sheer number or usefulness. Never think numbers and/or usefulness (e.g. "those are more" or "society gets the most from these) are the only true, just, logical and right choices "only because you have no emotional connection" or even if you have. Now when it comes to the serial killers, obviously I would not chose them. However, no matter what people they are, the lives themselves - I seperate life and person - cannot be summed up to truely outweigh one. If we start thinking like that we lose the part of humanity within that we should never lose. People should pick the option they want but never insist that when it comes to that context a is any more right than context b, et cetera.

    I do very well get the point that Kanno does not want the discussion to be like this. But I have the feeling that I have to point that out.
    Last edited by Sephiroth; 10-07-2017 at 12:03 PM.

  10. #25
    Nerf This~ Laddy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Memphis, TN
    Posts
    11,884
    Articles
    5
    Blog Entries
    10

    Default

    The most obvious choice is not always the easiest choice.



  11. #26
    WarZidane's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    885

    FFXIV Character

    Cattleya Paphia (Sargatanas)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Sephiroth View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve View Post
    If not, then you would end up saving the most amount of lives. Logically it comes down to that. If you have a connection, then you would probably save the person/persons you have the connection to.
    Everytime someones says "logically" because they transform lives into some mathematical value or social usefulness ...

    What if those 100 are serial killers? What if the father of that one person you chose to kill wants to prove you have chosen the "wrong way" by avenging the death of his son and killing 1 million people instead? You cannot solve this with math or utilitarism. It hurts me when people think lives have a mathematical value that can outweigh the opposing value by sheer number or usefulness. Never think numbers and/or usefulness (e.g. "those are more" or "society gets the most from these) are the only true, just, logical and right choices "only because you have no emotional connection" or even if you have. Now when it comes to the serial killers, obviously I would not chose them. However, no matter what people they are, the lives themselves - I seperate life and person - cannot be summed up to truely outweigh one. If we start thinking like that we lose the part of humanity within that we should never lose. People should pick the option they want but never insist that when it comes to that context a is any more right than context b, et cetera.

    I do very well get the point that Kanno does not want the discussion to be like this. But I have the feeling that I have to point that out.
    That could apply to any choice. What if your best friend becomes the next Hitler? What if the town happens to be visited by someone who could cure cancer? All we have is numbers, so I go by the numbers, which means for me it's option 3.

    That is, I'd like to think I would have the clarity of thought to choose option 3. As people have already said, it's different in the heat of the moment, you can't truly know what you'd pick unless you were actually thrust into that position.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •