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

That's a false dilemma though...

For one thing it's not possible to follow the cause/effect chain that closely. If I knew for certain that denying X amount of spending on X amount of people in Africa would mean the UK could afford expensive treatment for my son when he gets ill in a years time and that this would be the thing that saved his life I might make that trade. But outside of thought experiments like the trolley problem it's never that certain. In fact, in the case of overseas spending it can be the opposite. If we fund anti ebola programmes there is less chance of it developing into an epidemic which spreads worldwide. Vaccination programmes against TB, Polio etc build up herd immunity that makes it less likely antibiotic resistant mutations will occur and spread to the UK. One of mankinds biggest achievements, eradicating small pox, only happened because of a huge global effort. Maybe there's an alternative reality where we didn't collectively spend the resources to do that and my son died of smallpox? Maybe in the future a child in a refugee camp who had their education payed for by the UK will grow up to be a scientist who saves everyone including my children. By not spending the money we condem everyone to death. I can't see the future so I don't know.

Of course a lot of overseas aid is about soft power anyway. And some of it builds unhealthy dependencies (but that makes America's sudden withdrawal of aid even worse). But real life isn't like the trolley problem. So even though it's an interesting thought experiment you can't really transfer it to real world debates.

You'd kill innocent women and children?

Irrelevant to the thread but I'm sure she doesn't give a flying f what you think of her.

Regardless of opinions on the death penalty this is part of the justice she has waited for for 31 years which has exacerbated her own torture and created an expectation of closure. If she had never been promised it she would likely not be looking for that closure. Dont judge until you've walked in her shoes.

I would do it immediately to save my children and if I had to I’d do it twice.

OP, Have you seen the play or read Arthur Miller, All my sons? You might find it interesting.

Yes, easily.

Exactly. Most people who prefer death themselves than bear the survivor guilt.

At least with death, you die once but if others die for you, you die every day

I wondered if people had pressed the wrong button, as the options are listed in the opposite order.

Just no, if that situation were ever to be happening I would suspect AI had run rogue and we would both be better off out of it.

I will say only this.

Advanced search is a useful and beautiful thing.

Does the child have to know what happened?

Justice?
Have you read anything about the horrendous life Christa Pike had right from when she was a tiny child?

Ah, maybe.

Just yesterday I told my DC that if I had to blow up this planet to save them, I wouldn't think twice. They disagreed with my view but never doubted it

Thought that username seemed familiar.

You sure are exercising the old grey matter over some strange hypotheticals these days. Is everything okay?

Are you serious?! The ONLY reason CP was being executed was BECAUSE she tortured and murdered Colleen. How can you seriously say that watching her daughter’s killer be executed makes her as bad , that’s really fucked up thinking.

Who would want to live with that lie hanging over them! It is so easy to see why men get blackmailed...

Eh? Give your head a wobble. I’m delighted she got to watch Ms Pike suffer and will hopefully get to watch it all over again. Pike deserves everything she gets, her crime was heinous

I don’t think i could live with myself so it would be a miserable existence

Just a tiny point...they are also on this planet. You'd effectively nuke everyone to kill your own kids.
I am guessing you love a flag cape.

No of course not. How horrifically selfish.
cf war crimes.

So you have a child in front of you terrified & you would have no qualms about shooting them in the head? thats not normal

Did you read this back? Would you two not die in the explosion? And if you did survive how long for since the planet is gone? 😂😂

This

It is so obviously a stupid question.