Poll: Would You Push The Button? (Moral Dilemma)

[James Crook]

That's not a proper dilemma, mate.
A dilemma would be to either press the button, someone random dies and you get a billion dollars and instant success in life, destroy the button but have someone in your family die, or leave and the guy presses the button and kills a random person without you getting money.

 

[neoontime]

Nope, I wouldn't even press it if it was a stranger. Seriously, killing a stranger is so messed up unless you would knowly agree to die by the same chance.
I'd love to see the karma moment where if you press the button, you get a million dollars but then the guy immediately shoots you in the face. This would be justified from the previous person who pressed it since you're a stranger to them. It's the kind of awesome things I would like to see in an episode of the twilight zone or something.

 

[Extragorey]

I'm horrified at how many people here are justifying pushing the button if it killed someone who's been bad to them (like an abusive father, etc.) or someone they don't know.
Does it really matter who it is or what they've done? Principles, people. All the money in the world doesn't give you the right to take a life.

A recent anonymous survey in America (from the book The Day America Told the Truth) revealed that for $10 million, 25% would abandon their families, 23% would become a prostitute for a week, and 7% would kill a stranger.
Let me reiterate that: 7 in 100 people would kill you if the price was right.

People are forgetting what "integrity" even means.

 

[TBman]

wasn't there a movie about this?

 

[TWRule]

Another "moral dilemma"...yawn...

Let's put this in the concrete shall we? A strange carney tells you this scenario, you're going to go report him to someone, and that's about it. Maybe if you're particularly savvy, you'll ask to see the money, then knock him out and take it - or humor him and press the button, to which nothing will happen, and you'll take money from this rich crazy person.

Anyway, this is never a 'moral dilemma'. Either you view your family member's lives as of quantifiable/commensurable worth with money, in which case a little moral calculus will tell you what to do, or you do not, and the whole proposition is absurd.

 

[00slash00]

That depends, can the person prove to me that this isn't a load of shit? If not then I'd push the button just to prove that nothing would happen. But if yes, then no. No amount of money can buy away the guilt of knowing that you murdered someone

 

[Icehearted]

A million is a tiny amount compared to willfully murdering someone, but then I have no really strong familial bonds with anyone anymore. My family is largely comprised of abusive people, I am nothing like they are and have as a result become distant from most of them, in many cases they are strangers, so for a million would I press a button and loose a random member of an abusive family that has spare nearly no cruelty to myself or others? Up the ante, make it a powerball jackpot sized number and we'll talk turkey.

 

[SaberXIII]

I'm not that close to my family (not for any real reason, I just don't really know them very well), but regardless of who it is - be it close family member or random Jonny - I don't think I would because it's just wrong. Connect that button to 10,000 criminals and hell I'd push it twice, but that sort of morality defeats the point of the dilemma.

 

[Navvan]

No, I like my immediate family and have emotion ties to them that are greater than any monetary value. Change the button to kill any random person in the world and I'd likely hit it 10 or so times.

 

[loc978]

...I'd press it, not because I want the million dollars or I don't mind my family dying, but because I wouldn't believe the figure in the black cloak. Essentially, I'd be calling his/her bluff. I'd probably do so with a flippant declaration of "Bull-shit".

Mind you, if it turned out to be true and the figure turned out to be Death or somesuch, my worldview would be flipped on its head. I currently consider all magical/spiritual/religious beliefs to be utter bullshit. Bit of a physicalist.

 

[hazabaza1]

I like to think I would in situations like these. Whether or not I actually would is obviously unknown unless it were to actually ever happen (which... it won't. So yeah). But yeah I'll go for no.

 

[blackrave]

P.S. This seems appropriate

Oh, you bastard, you!
I WANTED TO POST THAT VID!
But that is what I get for being slow

OT:NO!!!

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

What? A million wouldn't even cover the cost of the amount of therapy sessions necessary after committing fucking parricide. What kind of moral question is this? And how is it in anyway a "classic" moral dilemma?

This isn't even a "sanctity of human life" debate. The fact that anyone even chose the other option on the poll probably means either 58 people are just dicking around, picked the wrong option, or are really stupid psychopaths. There's no other explanation.

 

[Sandjube]

Unfortunately for me, I actually love all of my family. So fuck no. Not for any amount, not for anything. That goes the same for the few close friends I make in life, also.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Disown my family, somehow trick the cloaked figure into signing a marriage certificate, press the button, re-own my family 1 million dollars richer.

If that somehow doesn't work out (which is probably a non-issue with a plan as airtight as that) absolutely not. Even if it was a random person in the world I wouldn't even consider it

 

[lunavixen]

I couldn't, I love my family too much. If it were not limited to immediate family members and I got to choose who died, then maybe i'd be a little more tempted, but seeing as that's outside the scope of the question, then i'll retain my original answer.

This isn't really much of a moral dilemma if you think about it; people who had a loving family will see no value in the money when compared to losing the love they have for their family, and someone who hates their family will push the button out of spite, the money would just be a bonus.

 

[Saltyk]

Reminds me of a question I was asked earlier this week. Basically, it boiled down to would you choose love or financial security (5 billion dollars was the example used). I choose the money. It's much more practical in the long run.

As for the question posed in the OP.
Hell, no. I like my family. I wouldn't want to risk killing any of them. Even if it were a magic button, or something, I wouldn't want to risk losing a family member.

Now, with a larger sum, and a random person, you'd probably see me hit the magic button a few times. Because I'm greedy and plenty of people are already dying without me earning money. Might as well make a buck.

 

[KOMega]

Hmmmmmm.

Probably. Especially if I could control who I kill. That's be a big bonus.

I'm kind of a horrible person I guess :/

Sorry.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Fuck no.

For one, being random makes me not want to instantly.

Far more worrying however, is the guy who's proposing this and what else is at stake. I saw The Box and while it sucked hard, it was a good cautionary tale for a situation like this. The guy with the button is either the Devil or an alien. Either way, interacting with him will end badly somehow.

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

No I wouldn't do it no matter how much money, or who would be the person. Also, the guy sounds way too shady, and the details just too sketchy. Like others have said, why would you trust this guy? how does he know so much about you? How will the person die?