Would you kill 10000 people to save the person you love most?

[CurdinHenry]

Context -

You would just have to press a button and you wouldn't have to see it happen

You would be guaranteed not to know any of them beforehand

No one would know it was you unless you confessed

Yanbu yes
Yabu no

I'd tell them everytime they refused to clean their room or didn't eat their peas

Same as me 100% ! I’m shocked mums here would let their kids die to save strangers … I’m like wtf , the world could vanish if o don’t have my kids and family . They are my everything

Huh I would feel much better about it if that
savage had killed my daughter.... even more so as it didn't seem to work first time

My son would be absolutely horrified if I did it. He’d ask me wtf was going on in my head. I’d feel exactly the same as him if the situation was reversed.

It is interesting that those who choose the 10,000 strangers think they've got the moral upper hand.
I wouldn't be so sure.

If it were not for bonds between people-familial or otherwise-we would not exist today.

Pretending that that stranger's life is as worth as much to you as your own child's is virtue-signalling hogswash.

I'm a Libra, so in my made up scenario there's also a countdown and I would leave it to whatever happened at the end of that just so I didn't have to make a decision.

So you are anti-death penalty so what ? If proved beyond a reasonable doubt if the most heinous crime has been committed they need to go I've got no time for your sensibilities

Yours is a ridiculous thread by the way shame you haven't got anything better to do

So true , a bit like the hen peole say “ all life’s are worth the same “ I’m like “ no they are not “ .

To be honest I know objectively my children are not more important than anyone else, and they’re not more important than 10,000 people but like… obviously to me they are. I kind of assumed it was a no brainer.

I think torturing someone because someone in a white coat told you to is very different to making a choice to save a loved one, in the second scenario you are highly motivated by love, the first one is just fear of authority.

I can’t think of a number that I wouldn’t end with a button to save my DC.

See but for us , those who replied as above it’s shocking that you wouldn’t do anything to save your kids . In this hypothetical scenario my kids husband and close family would be my top priority . For me it’s shocking to think others wouldn’t protect them above anything and anyone else .

This reminds me of people saying after a tragedy in the news: ‘I don’t know how people can go on without their mum/son/daughter whatever, I would end my life (or kill the perpetrator if applicable)’.

Like ok, maybe you would, but it doesn’t mean you love your child more than anyone else because they aren’t willing to murder 10,000 people or whatever else. What exactly is there to be shocked by, thay some people wouldn’t want to inflict the same pain on others? Truly baffling.

Mines just nipped me for trying to teach him to use the toilet.

He’d definitely be getting a reminder 😂

No. Not even to save my child who I love more than anything. He's only 15 but would be disgusted if he ever found out he only lives because other people died.
We do believe in God though so are not 'afraid' of death.
I'd Mourne him massively and never be the same again but no, my moral compass is strong and not a chance.
Not even if I knew all the others were murders etc.

But tbh, I think this thought experiment is a bit boring and not particularly thought-provoking. It’s too far removed from any real life scenario, it’s just absurd.

Totally agree what a pointless question.

We will have to disagree on that !

So let’s get to where we may be in a few years- your sons and daughters called up for military service- giving their lives to save thousands- including your own in your own country as well as those in other countries- no chance of protecting them in that situation.
Many say they would refuse national service but that would result bad feeling by others and time in gaol

No my my childs life is objectively not worth the same as 10’000 other lives in total. BUT to me subjectively it is and I’m the one with the button in this scenario.

It’s a bit like an army rescue, there could be one person stranded but a whole team is at risk of they attempt a rescue, yet it is often still done because what binds is the special status we give to people, whether it’s love or friendship or duty. PP is right imo, the cold utilitarian approach of saying all lives are equal to you is actually quite inhumane. It’s a bit like saying I could afford to buy my child a winter coat but she’s no more important to me than the next door neighbours kid so it doesn’t matter if I give them the coat because the net result is A child is warm.

I can imagine my own mother would mindlessly claim she’d kill the 10,000 but the fact that I know my mother would say this, is an illustration that it’s not a declaration of love. It’s an easy answer to a ridiculous question.
I couldn’t murder other people babies and children. Committing such an evil act with the excuse of saving your own, who’d want a mother like that.

My kids have double nationality I would just take them if the country , no 2 ways about it . Nobody should yo be forced to military service , if you want to go fair game if not then nobody should .
Funny enough I have very close friends whose son was conscribed to go to war last year and they did just that . Why on earth would I allow my kid to fight a war I probably wouldn’t even support ?

I can definitely confirm mine won’t be called up for any national service.

He’s 10 years old and currently can’t be trusted with a juice bottle, or his own hands, nevermind a weapon.

It’s unlikely he’ll ever be more than 6ft away from us, for our whole lives, so I reckon we will actually be able to protect him (as best we can).

To be fair, doesn’t make him worth more or less than 10,000 people, apart from to us he obviously is because he’s ours.

Yes I would