Poll: MORAL CHOICE TIME... WOOHOO!

[Crystalite]

Ummmm, apparently you quoted me (and your comment suggests as much), but my post hasn't appeared anywhere? That's slightly weird, never had that happen before...

Uhm, yeah, I answered you without quoting, sorry. It is now 3 in the morning here, and my concentration is out of the window. You may not have meant it that way, but your comment sounded incredibly arrogant and condescending. The internet does not take that well.
The point is, you are trying to apply logic to concepts we all allready know are not suited for that.

We all noticed that the scenario was fubar from the beginning, and we nitpicked away, as did you. But that is not really the point of the thread, or of the debate. And the debate is not about logic, it is, more or less, about morality systems.

Yeah, I agree that the OP continued to pull arguments to kit up the scenario from where the sun don´t shine, but I do think he was only trying to save the abstract meaning, which is much simpler:

If one person must die, who would it be from this list.
(It does not matter in the slightest, why this is so, I think)

 

[Freeze_L]

so my understanding is that the robot will be damaged but make it back, and the humans will all die, definitely, and might not make it back. Someone must go, the only logical choice is to send someone who has a chance of making it back, ie the robot. No other choice is guaranteed to live long enough to return, and will most definitely die. Even if the robot is self aware, therefore alive and a person(?), its the only one who has a chance to make it back, choosing anyone else is reckless and morally irresponsible.

Serious answer to ridiculous hypothetical.

 

[Firetaffer]

Honestly, I'd pick the shortest straw etc. Why isn't there an option for this?

 

[vociferocity]

anyway I guess I should answer the actual question, after having raged at it for a while.

surely the only possible choice is the robot? I mean, we managed to get to the planet, surely we can fly back. plus, if it's just going to rust, I'm sure we could manage to fix it. in fact, I bet that's the minority's job on the ship - robot mechanic. you've not clarified his or her job, so I will.

bam, robot goes out, robot comes back, robot gets fixed, we all go home and have waffles. good job, everyone!

 

[Zhukov]

Wait... the robot is Claptrap?

He's gone.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

It would be a difficult decision, however, I think that I would most likely vote for the Robot. Even if he acted like Bender, I'd have to pick him. He is, after all, the Robot.

 

[MagicMouse]

The minority went. Everything else was more useful.

 

[OrokuSaki]

Could i just take the robot apart (Leaving the head or motherboard or whatever intact) and make him into a giant arm? We have a scientist, why can't we improvise?

 

[jboking]

Anyway, not to sound 'smart' or to be arrogant, but I am finding logic here. It's nitpicking, fine, but it's still finding logic.

I myself was looking for the logic in this question and realized that the entire question is incredibly flawed. Think about it, they sent you to a planet because they knew the cure for a terrible disease was there. However, they apparently didn't know that the atmosphere of the planet was incredibly acidic and would kill anyone on my crew. I honestly don't think that's possible, or maybe they just didn't notice. Maybe every scientist on earth working to save the human race suddenly got a spurt of the idiocy. If the smartest people on that planet made this kind of fundamental mistake(should we check if that planet's atmosphere is hospitable? NOPE.), I can't see a reason to save them. It's a planet of morons. Maybe they did know but chose to do nothing about it, sending at least one member of my team to their death. At which point everyone on earth who knew this and still sent us off were assholes. Of course, if you say that they told the crew before we left and they knew that the planet was going to contain highly acidic air I'd do the logical thing and ask my crew which member wants to sacrifice their life. I mean, if we knew ahead of time that the planets air was acidic don't you think that all of them would have realized by now that this was a suicide mission? Am I honestly supposed to believe that not ONE of them has been considering this? Why on earth do I need to pick one of them?

If there was a logical answer to all of that, I don't see it. However, if I'm just missing some fundamental part of the question and I need to choose between them, I'd pick the robot. I don't care if he's self-aware and one of a kind. If it really was that unique and technologically advanced(but for some reason lacked a usb port so he could copy himself somewhere else) they shouldn't have sent it with me. I'm going to assume that the scientist there can at least read the data on how we got where we are and pilot us back.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

What you are doing is not finding logic, what you are doing is the smart sounding equivalent of nitpicking. There is always a way for the creator of a scenario to do whatever the hell he wants with it, no matter what age you joined Mensa for your incredible genius.

Ummmm, apparently you quoted me (and your comment suggests as much), but my post hasn't appeared anywhere? That's slightly weird, never had that happen before...

Anyway, not to sound 'smart' or to be arrogant, but I am finding logic here. It's nitpicking, fine, but it's still finding logic. And I don't claim to have incredible genius, I ended up with AABCC at A-Level and I'm struggling quite a lot at university, I've never been top of my class for anything (well, except Maths, but only in like Year 9 and 10...), and I'm hardly the only person to have got into Mensa at age six. There are kids who've managed to get in aged three and four, for heaven's sake. I mentioned it only because the entrance exams are mostly logic puzzles, so I figured it would be fairly relevant to the point I was trying to make...

Alright, fair enough. Logical nitpicking IS still logical.

P.S. I snipped it, but forgot to add the word "Snip" so there was no text. I guess the the foum just deletes the quote altogether if it doesn't consist of anything. (gotta remember that when I want to screw with people.....)

 

[fletch_talon]

I transfer the robots mind to the ship's hard drive leaving the empty shell.
The scientist then reprograms the robot shell to function either by remote control, or to complete the single objective of obtaining and delivering the cure to the ship.

 

[Wildcard5]

The robot, AFTER I download its memories onto the ships computer.

 

[ryderawsome]

so long as me, the babe and what is possibly a badass robot survive the earth can go screw for all i care

 

[Slayer_2]

The robot, because if the air is acidic, then any human will be incapacitated within seconds, so no way in hell they'd be any use. Also, it's a machine, it can be rebuilt.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

If I'm in charge, whoever I hate the most/is the most annoying. Otherwise, the robot.

Ditto on this :3

 

[RandallJohn]

Have the robot program the directions home, and send it. Unless it's one of those malevolent HAL/Lore types, in which case, come up with a random way to choose.

 

[Rewdalf]

Hm.
Well first of all, why are the hot guy/girl/thing and minority with you if they've got no special skills? Surely you would have brought them for a reason, unless you're an incompitent leader...
Alright, you're there to lead, the scientist is a scientist, and the robot is...a robot...
The alien? That's just ridiculous...
If I wasn't feeling like an ass tonight I probably would have attempted to answer better, but I can't take this seriously now.

Ah what the hell, probably the Alien. Maybe it can survive out there?

 

[F-I-D-O]

As written the minority, because everyone else is useful and I myself can cover the minority issue.

Couldn't resist
Anyway, probably the robot. Back up his memory, and voila, we have a pissed off hard drive, and the cure. Not really a tough decision.

 

[cheese_wizington]

Send all but the hot girl out and have sex then take the shit it and have more sex on the way back.

I'm 14, ok?

 

[runnernda]

This isn't much of a moral choice. I say the robot. I find it hard to believe that the ship wouldn't have the way to get home programmed into it. Although...wouldn't we have spacesuits designed to block the acidic air? I would think that we would have sent probes and satellites and rovers to this planet before sending people. Just saying.

I don't think this poll is detailed enough. So we have a scientist...what kind of scientist? What job does the hot girl/guy perform besides being eye candy? And what does the minority do? If this was quantitative comparison, I would choose D: Not enough information is provided.