I'd have a hard time with this one. I don't think I'm really qualified to decide who lives and who dies.
Poll: Save One Or Save Many
- Thread starter CrazyBlaze
- Start date
It's one of those impossibly difficult questions to answer, I can't truly come down on one side or another. But, I think on a purely instinctive level, I would probably save the loved one.
I think being put in this situation my mind would probably pretty much go blank and I'd come to having saved the one I love. Logically one should probably save the many, but when faced with that impossible choice I know that I wouldn't think logically but purely emotionally. Thus, loved one saved!
I think being put in this situation my mind would probably pretty much go blank and I'd come to having saved the one I love. Logically one should probably save the many, but when faced with that impossible choice I know that I wouldn't think logically but purely emotionally. Thus, loved one saved!
This is an unnecessarily dark dilemma, which I cannot give a definite answer for as it's taken out of context.
I know this is to decide whether I prioritize the rights of the few or the sake of the many. I honestly can't answer, since there's so many questions to pose. Who are these people? Are they aware? Does the loved one know her death would save lives? How did I end up here? Is the choice made by murder or ignorance? Why is death the only option? How will my decision affect me?
The keyword here is, yet again, context. Never make generalizations.
I know this is to decide whether I prioritize the rights of the few or the sake of the many. I honestly can't answer, since there's so many questions to pose. Who are these people? Are they aware? Does the loved one know her death would save lives? How did I end up here? Is the choice made by murder or ignorance? Why is death the only option? How will my decision affect me?
The keyword here is, yet again, context. Never make generalizations.
What do you mean by we?Vault101 said:
I have been in several places with 1,000 others, and it is not hard at all to imagne being in their shoes, 1000 brothers, sisters, mothers, sons. The grief you will cause by killing them, comparable to a small natural disaster bur aggraviated by beind done not by chance or God, but by a human.
Still, I would kill each and everyone of those with a knife before letting the person I love the most or I die. Of course after that i would probably be quite mental, but the other option is just one that i would never take, no matter what.
Edit: Nothign against your PoV, it's just that the phrase "we cant comprehend X" almost always rubs me the wrong way. We can comprenhend almost anything we can ennunciate if we give it a little time to think about it.
OP reminds me of the ethical/philosphical train problem. Basic set up is:
There is a train coming. There is no way to stop it. You control where the track switches. On one track there are 5 people on the line. On other one.
Who do you choose to die?
The 5 or the one?
What if the 5 were convicted murderers? What if they weren't and the one was a world famous brain surgeon?
and so and so forth.
There is a train coming. There is no way to stop it. You control where the track switches. On one track there are 5 people on the line. On other one.
Who do you choose to die?
The 5 or the one?
What if the 5 were convicted murderers? What if they weren't and the one was a world famous brain surgeon?
and so and so forth.
I want to say it would depend on the situation, but the first question that popped into mind when thinking about it was:
"What have the many ever done for me?"
Yeah, that's probably not the best question to open with, but I guess it reveals my answer right off the bat. It's the "one is a tragedy, a million is a statistic" issue. I'm not omnipotent; I'm just a human who has a limited self-centric perspective. If I don't know the thousand at risk, I'm going to save my loved one. It's easy to de-personalize the masses.
CAPTCHA: "all singing"
Well, I suppose that would be one of the best ways for them to die. I wonder if I could organize a thousand people to perform Queen's We Will Rock You as their last act on this Earth? Oh, that would be fun.
"What have the many ever done for me?"
Yeah, that's probably not the best question to open with, but I guess it reveals my answer right off the bat. It's the "one is a tragedy, a million is a statistic" issue. I'm not omnipotent; I'm just a human who has a limited self-centric perspective. If I don't know the thousand at risk, I'm going to save my loved one. It's easy to de-personalize the masses.
CAPTCHA: "all singing"
Well, I suppose that would be one of the best ways for them to die. I wonder if I could organize a thousand people to perform Queen's We Will Rock You as their last act on this Earth? Oh, that would be fun.
Completely depends. If the situation was such that, with no input from me, both the loved one and the group would die, I'd save the loved one for sure. I have relatively few people I even let close to me, and I'll be damned if I let one of them die to save a hundred nameless faces.
Alternatively, if the situation was such that one group would die without any input whatsoever, then my morality obligates me to not get involved. In this situation, by not taking part, I am not causing any harm. By taking part, I sentence either the one or the many who would have otherwise lived to their deaths in order to spare someone else. Unless literally every single person I cared about on this planet was about to die, I would leave this one alone.
Alternatively, if the situation was such that one group would die without any input whatsoever, then my morality obligates me to not get involved. In this situation, by not taking part, I am not causing any harm. By taking part, I sentence either the one or the many who would have otherwise lived to their deaths in order to spare someone else. Unless literally every single person I cared about on this planet was about to die, I would leave this one alone.
I'd save the person that was close to me, because why should I care about the lives of a bunch of faceless nobodies who I've never met, nor will I ever be likely to? Their deaths would mean nothing to me, while, say, my mother's death would crush me.
So I wouldn't save the many on the risky hopes that they may be able to cure cancer or establish world peace (*coughbullshitcough*).
So I wouldn't save the many on the risky hopes that they may be able to cure cancer or establish world peace (*coughbullshitcough*).
The many. My love one (friend and family) should know me well enough that they will understand my action (while I do love them but I am looking at the bigger picture so it isn't about betrayal or not loving them enough). Sure it sound like I'm sacriface them but they should know that it wasn't easy for me to do it.
It'd be a lot easier to make this decision if I'm allowed to speak to my loved one. If she wants to sacrifice herself, then I'd go with the many.
I think I'd be frozen by indecisiveness at first but if it really came down to it, Id say the loved one. Id feel guilty as crap after though and probably dedicate the rest of my life to the most noble cause I could think of.
EDIT: For the record, I dont think many people would blame someone on their decision to save a loved one over many strangers. They'd blame whatever killed them.
EDIT: For the record, I dont think many people would blame someone on their decision to save a loved one over many strangers. They'd blame whatever killed them.
