Your plane crashes

[Nathan Poe]

I don't see a single "right" answer to the scenario -- only right answers based on an individual's ethics.

 

[yguy]

To explain the "right", "moral" or "correct" response.

Now granted, you did say that there is "a" right answer.

Which suggests you know what it is.
Without revealing what right answer there is, you seem to be holding it above our heads, just out of reach. Teasing us with "a" right answer you hold.

Remember, there are only two possibilities, so the answer itself isn't that big a deal. It's how people get there that I'm interested in.

But by telling us, you reveal yourself, your morality, your ethics, etc.
So which is it going to be yguy?
Are you going to withhold "a" right answer?

Not forever, no.

Are you going to admit that many of the answers on this thread are all "a" right answer?

Not yet.

Waiting, not holding my breath.

Killjoy.

Incidentally, this scenario is not my invention. It was originally posted by someone for whom the "right answer" was the opposite of mine.

 

[b&wpac4]

Well, as I said, assuming that you have no reason to believe it is a complete trick and the children will be killed, and not trying to find the Deus Ex Machina, I say trading 1 life for 99 is a bargain.

 

[Nathan Poe]

Incidentally, this scenario is not my invention. It was originally posted by someone for whom the "right answer" was the opposite of mine.

John Stuart Mill?

 

[corvus_corax]

Remember, there are only two possibilities, so the answer itself isn't that big a deal.

If the answer isn't a big deal, then WHY did you say that there IS a right answer?
Are you changing the initial parameters of your own OP now?
Sounds like it

It's how people get there that I'm interested in.

So the entire premise of your OP (there is a right answer) is flawed
It should rather read "Your answer may not agree with mine, Im just interested in your JUSTIFICATION"

Not forever, no.

Then just give out your "answer" or "answers" to your own OP.
Quit playing games
I can GUARANTEE (regardless of any answer you give to your own OP) you will generate debate or at least discussion.
Why the obfuscation?

Killjoy.

lol
My bad
Or not

 

[corvus_corax]

dOooh Oooh Oooh Mistah Kataaaah! I gots the answer!
I DONT KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO!!

Having never been in that situation, I can't say ahead of time what I would actually DO.
There are things I would like to THINK I would do, but when it comes down to it, I DON'T KNOW.
For example I dont KNOW how I would react if my wife, my sons or my daughter were raped.
I'd like to THINK that I would either like to see that person locked up for life or dead (preferably by my own hand).
But Ive never been in that situation, so there is NO way, ever, that I can say what my reaction would ACTUALLY be.
Just like in your highly corrected and modified OP.
I simply cannot say what I would do.
I can only say what I would do AFTER I had been through that exact scenario.

Do I pass Mistah Kataah!
(sorry for some reason, I got a flashback to the Sweathogs)

 

[white dove]

I have a feeling we're all going to be disappointed by the answer.

 

[lawtonfogle]

I have two questions:

Do I have reason suspect that he will carry through with his promise to kill all the children if I fail to kill one?

Do I have reason to suspect he will kill all the children even if I do kill one?

Yes, you have heard of him doing this many many times before, and on every case where they didn't kill a child, a video was released (and can be found in the darkest areas of the web) of all the children dieing, but when one child was killed, videos can be found of the rest being released. In ALL known cases (hundreds) he has kept his word either way.

 

[lawtonfogle]

Even if he isn't, you could just try to make a stand and see how many people you can take out before you are killed, but I'm trying to play with what I consider the be the "spirit of the game"

You attack anyone other than the children, poison gas is released in to the room and everyone dies. Once again, this is well know and documented with video evidence.

 

[lawtonfogle]

You don't shoot a kid. The dictator may kill them all or he may not, and you're not responsible for that outcome. But if you shoot one and he lets them all go, you're a murderer and he's just a guy with a room.

Depends upon how believable it is. If he is known for it, and you are 100% sure, then what you say is not the case.

 

[lawtonfogle]

My solution doesn't make me a murderer in my opinion. You are merely fighting for your own freedom against people who are holding you captive.

Maybe there is a mix up and they are only checking your papers before releasing you back into <insert your country here>. Lets say a Italian gets caught up in a mix up with customs, and so he uses this reasoning to go on a killing spree. I wouldn't say, by your logic, he is justified in doing such.

 

[lawtonfogle]

But isn't refusing to act an action? Doesn't refusing to shoot one doom the other 99?

Bear in mind that I may or may not be playing devil's advocate here.

Depends if there is a matter of choice in it all that falls to another. Lets say a machine, pre-programmed, is running and your actions are the input. The dictator does not choose to do kill all 100, it will happen no matter what he does anyways, it is all up to you. Maybe some truely evil being has put him in this position.

 

[corvus_corax]

Yes, you have heard of him doing this many many times before, and on every case where they didn't kill a child, a video was released (and can be found in the darkest areas of the web) of all the children dieing, but when one child was killed, videos can be found of the rest being released. In ALL known cases (hundreds) he has kept his word either way.

Yep, the dictator willing to murder 100 children keeping his word.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!
Sorry, couldn't help agreeing with you!
Again, the OP is a fictional (repaired as best the author can) JOKE.
Nothing more
NOBODY can honestly answer this question, especially not the author of the OP.

 

[lawtonfogle]

Such an insane scenario would only be concocted by someone with a sick sense of humor and equally sick mind. Call that bluff if you dare.

I've come up with worse before... at least in some people's minds. Mine usually get deleted with some threat of a ban, so I don't do them now. I guess maybe it is because I get people emotionally involved.

 

[lawtonfogle]

Yep, the dictator willing to murder 100 children keeping his word.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!
Sorry, couldn't help agreeing with you!
Again, the OP is a fictional (repaired as best the author can) JOKE.
Nothing more
NOBODY can honestly answer this question, especially not the author of the OP.

In some places, qualities that are valued are vastly different. Try imagining a community in which wasting water merits the death penalty?

 

[corvus_corax]

In some places, qualities that are valued are vastly different. Try imagining a community in which wasting water merits the death penalty?

I'm not talking about "some places" or some "communities".
And, having never been directly involved in those scenarios, all I can do is "imagine" and speculate from the comfort of my own desk in my own house that has running water, electricity, sewage systems and garbage/recycling disposal.
This entire thread is a bunch of "Ivory Tower" thinking.
I cannot state what I WOULD do, having never been there.
Which is why I consider the point of the OP to be ridiculous and a complete (badly played) JOKE.
The author of the OP, having never faced such a situation, has NO answer, except for his Ivory Tower POV.
UNTIL one is in such a situation, one CANNOT state what one WILL do. All we can do is post what we think or hope we would do (and with the ongoing editing and changing of the OP, I seriously doubt anyone will even seriously reach a situation describing what they think or hope they would do).




*caps made for emphasis, not screaming

 

[b&wpac4]

Maybe there is a mix up and they are only checking your papers before releasing you back into <insert your country here>. Lets say a Italian gets caught up in a mix up with customs, and so he uses this reasoning to go on a killing spree. I wouldn't say, by your logic, he is justified in doing such.

I doubt a guy held by Italian customs would be given a loaded gun, put in a roomful of children, and told to kill one of them...

 

[Zaac]

in a foreign country run by a ruthless dictator. He places you in a room with 100 children, a loaded gun, and no one else. He ensures that you cannot shoot anyone who isn't in that room. Then he commands you to kill one of the children, otherwise he'll kill all of them.

Should you obey?

There is a right answer, and it's not suicide.

Don't forget to show your work.

13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save itLuke 9:24

If I volunteer my life, and allow the ruthless dictator or one of the kids to take it, it's not suicide. If I'm not alive to kill one of the children, none of them has to do die. Because he did command that I kill one otherwise he'll kill all of them. If I am removed from the equation, then so is the condition that gives him the option to kill them all.

 

[b&wpac4]

13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save itLuke 9:24

If I volunteer my life, and allow the ruthless dictator or one of the kids to take it, it's not suicide. If I'm not alive to kill one of the children, none of them has to do die. Because he did command that I kill one otherwise he'll kill all of them. If I am removed from the equation, then so is the condition that gives him the option to kill them all.

I imagine if you take that route, he will kill all the children anyway, assuming this is a ruthless dictator.

 

[Avatar]

*Bang!*

Now, Mr dictator, kindly take me to the airport.