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

[Fox12]

No, even though I can think of a few people I wouldn't miss. I wouldn't do it to a stranger, and I certainly wouldn't do it to family.

 

[SuperfastJellyfish]

Never, not even in the "random person" situation some people have put forward. Any human life is worth more than a million measly dollars.

 

[Kae]

Knowing myself, I probably would push it out of sheer curiosity, to be fair there is no way I would believe the button is actually capable of doing that, I'd probably think that it's some sort of prank or social experiment, so yeah I'd probably press it just to see if it'll flash me sign saying I'm the worst person that has ever lived or something, I'm not really sure what I'd think or do if it actually works though.

If someone's willing to really give you a million dollars to see if you'd kill a family member, that person is sick. So sick, that he or she probably spent other untold amounts of money to either track your family down and hook them up to a device that will fire when you push the button. Or at least tell someone he hired to shoot them.

The answer for meis no. to anyone. My conscience goes crazy if I don't hold the door open for people and I feel like the worst person in the world. This would kill me.

In the end, that person would be stopped. Even if I die doing, I would stop this person for the same reason I do anything; It feels like the right thing to do for me and others.

I know life isn't sunshine and good intentions. That doesn't mean I should stop trying to do what I think is right.

Pffft, and what makes you think that some random person in a tent has a million dollars to give away?
But the button must do something, I wonder what?

 

[Saulkar]

Noop! That just is not me. I am pretty sociopathic (passively apathetic towards their existence) when it comes to a couple of siblings but I would not deliberately kill them.

 

[Eddie the head]

To be blunt this isn't a "Moral Dilemma" it's a; "do you hate your family enough to this?" With that said, hell no. My brother is still probably my closest friend, and me and my mom and dad are still close.

 

[Iron Criterion]

No, not my family. I would be tempted if it was just a random person somewhere in the world, but no. Not my family.

This quote here sums up humanity in a nutshell.

Don't worry, I'm not having a go at you personally; I'm just making observations.

OT: I would not push it.

 

[Eggsnham]

What good is material wealth if you have to live without somebody you love and live with the knowledge that they're dead because of you?

No.

 

[EeveeElectro]

I wouldn't. Not unless they could guarantee that it was my dad who'd die.

...yeah, my dad was puh-retty abusive during my childhood.

Agreed. Him dead and me in the money? That'll be brilliant! I wouldn't feel guilty either.

But more seriously, probably not. Apart from my dad, I love my intermediate family too much even though they get on my nerves. ;-;

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Eenope. I love all of my family.
Plus, even if it was a random stranger, I wouldn't press the button.
I can't really justify taking a life for my own gain. Even if it's for the very thing I want more than anything else.

 

[otakon17]

Nope, not a chance in hell. And wow, 65 utter monsters... I'm on unemployment right now, no jump and paying my rent piecemeal while still looking and I STILL wouldn't do that.

 

[Psychobabble]

This is a classic moral decision question that I felt like posing since I've little better to do at the moment, so here we go.

You're at a carnival and something draws your attention to a small tent on the outskirts of the carnival ground. Walking inside, you see a figure sitting at a small table clad in a black cloak. Sitting on the table is a box with a red button on it. The figure explains that if you press the button, you'll become 1,000,000 dollars richer, however someone in your immediate family (father, mother, brother, or sister) will die immediately.

The question is simple: would you press the button? Explain your answer. If your answer is no, what - if any - amount would tempt you to press it?

For money? No. However there are days when I feel I would happily push the button free of charge.

 

[DrOswald]

This is a classic moral decision question that I felt like posing since I've little better to do at the moment, so here we go.

You're at a carnival and something draws your attention to a small tent on the outskirts of the carnival ground. Walking inside, you see a figure sitting at a small table clad in a black cloak. Sitting on the table is a box with a red button on it. The figure explains that if you press the button, you'll become 1,000,000 dollars richer, however someone in your immediate family (father, mother, brother, or sister) will die immediately.

The question is simple: would you press the button? Explain your answer. If your answer is no, what - if any - amount would tempt you to press it?

First of all, no I would not. And I don't think there is any amount I would press it for.

I do think it is worth pointing out that this is not a moral dilemma. The moral choice is clear - do not press the button. The only question here is how much of a bastard you are willing to be for personal gain. Not that it is not an interesting question, it just isn't a moral dilemma.

 

[Akytalusia]

i wouldn't. i don't care one way or the other about members of my immediate blood vicinity, but fortunately for them, i don't care one way or the other about money either. i'd just wish the guy luck with his next patron and proceed to the carnival.

 

[DkLnBr]

essentially, would I kill a family member for the life insurance? nope, not even if I wouldn't get charged with murder. Power of family and love and all that shit

 

[Vegosiux]

Now, if said family member was suffering from an agonizing terminal illness with no prospect of improvement, yes. Otherwise, eh, no.

 

[RJ 17]

I do think it is worth pointing out that this is not a moral dilemma. The moral choice is clear - do not press the button. The only question here is how much of a bastard you are willing to be for personal gain. Not that it is not an interesting question, it just isn't a moral dilemma.

Actually it is a moral dilemma...seeing as how judging someone to see "how much of a bastard they are willing to be for personal gain" is a test of their morals. Are you someone (family or no) who would kill for nothing but your own personal gain? If so, then you likely don't have strong morals since you're clearly a selfish bastard willing to do anything so long as you benefit from it.

You can argue it's not a very tempting one since, as other people have pointed out, a million really isn't that much. But I'd argue that the less the money, the worse your morals if you agree to it.

 

[Agayek]

I have make more than enough money to live perfectly comfortably from a job I mostly enjoy, so I wouldn't even feel tempted by that.

Maybe I'm just crazy, but I don't understand the greed that motivates questions like this. Anything above a comfortable living wage, where you can afford the essentials and have enough left over to entertain yourself until the next check, is completely pointless and irrelevant. I don't get why people want more than that.

 

[Yph]

Honestly, I'd happily hit it more than once.

 

[Gone Rampant]

I'd ask a few questions first.

Could I choose which of my family?

Is extended family allowed?

If one of my extended family is in hospital with a terminal condition, could they die and spare them (Essentially mercy kill).

But to be honest? I love my family. I'd turn around and walk away over killing them.

 

[thehorror2]

If it was the traditional morality question (where it was a randomly-selected person anywhere in the world other than you.) I'd go for it, no questions asked. Enough to live off of forever, maybe not; but 1 million dollars would make a lot of my short-to-middle term problems disappear. No student loans, no credit card debts, my whole family basically gets to hit a big reset button on their financial problems. Weigh that against one person in the world dying and you'd better believe I'd take it. There are a decent number of scumbags in the world, so I could even hope to off one of them. The balance of extraordinarily people in the world is shifted towards extraordinarily bad, so I've got better than even odds of taking out someone who at least sort-of deserves it. But when it's a member of my own family, no way. I know all of my family members well enough to know that the world would be hurt by their absence much more than any amount of money could fix. (I can't vouch for everyone else in the world that way.)