Your plane crashes

[white dove]

...I'm in a foreign country run by a ruthless dictator who seems to make laws on the go.

Then how would you know for sure whether or not he would keep to his word?

 

[b&wpac4]

I don't have to know. My solution guarantees that he doesn't kill them all because I didn't kill one. If I'm not around, there can be no command that I kill one in order to save 99.

Again, you're making this into a Faustian deal. You do know what I mean by that, right?

 

[Avatar]

Like I said, in that regard, if everyone is gonna keep adding to the parameters set forth in the OP, then no scenario will ever work in which the evil dictator doesn't have the option of still killing all the children.

Of course he has that option. All you can do is shoot one kid and hope for the best.

 

[Zaac]

Then how would you know for sure whether or not he would keep to his word?

I didn't say I did. Whether or not he keeps his word was not one of the issues set forth in the OP.

 

[Zaac]

Again, you're making this into a Faustian deal. You do know what I mean by that, right?

Why don't you speak English? Of course I know what a dime store word like Faustian means.

And I say again, what the dictator may or may not choose to do in contrast to what he said he would do is outside the parameters of what the OP asked.

The issue at hand was how to keep any of the kids from dying. I gave a solution.

Future consequences outside the parameters of the OP are irrelevant.

 

[Zaac]

Of course he has that option. All you can do is shoot one kid and hope for the best.

The OP doesn't say he has the option and I'm answering using the parameters of the OP.

 

[ranmaonehalf]

of course you could always ask for a volunteer.
ID likely shoot as many people with guns that came in the door.
Id arm the kids and then we would take the building and finally take out the dictator.


VIVA LA REVOLUTION

 

[Avatar]

The OP doesn't say he has the option and I'm answering using the parameters of the OP.

Me too. My answer is the same. Shoot a kid.

 

[b&wpac4]

Why don't you speak English? Of course I know what a dime store word like Faustian means.

And I say again, what the dictator may or may not choose to do in contrast to what he said he would do is outside the parameters of what the OP asked.

The issue at hand was how to keep any of the kids from dying. I gave a solution.

Future consequences outside the parameters of the OP are irrelevant.

Well, if he locked me in the room with you, you may not have to ask for a volunteer from the children.

It's late and that was just a joke, BTW. Take care Zaac!

 

[white dove]

I didn't say I did. Whether or not he keeps his word was not one of the issues set forth in the OP.

You're not going to take a critical situation, such as this one (however hypothetical) and not concern yourself with the details when the outcome can be so devastating. The fact is, you are taking a dictator at his "word," nothing more. That is your first problem.

 

[Zaac]

You're not going to take a critical situation, such as this one (however hypothetical) and not concern yourself with the details when the outcome can be so devastating. The fact is, you are taking a dictator at his "word," nothing more. That is your first problem.

The fact is that you may be taking a hypothetical situation a lil too seriously. We were given a situation with certain parameters. Why would I concern myself with details outside the parameters when the OP has asked for solutions within the parameters given?

 

[Zaac]

Well, if he locked me in the room with you, you may not have to ask for a volunteer from the children.

It's late and that was just a joke, BTW. Take care Zaac!

Don't make me have to come after you b&wpac4 . You get a good nights sleep. I out too.

 

[ranmaonehalf]

Now lets say you see a train rushing toward a bus full of babies. The driver has jumped out and is running toward a switch to change the trains course so it wont hit it. A wild liger shows up and eats the man.

You have a choice.

You can switch the trains course now causing the train to hit a baby that fell out and is laying on the next track.
And if you dont the liger will eat the baby boy/girl.

What do you? let the bus full of babies die or the one kid?

 

[Avatar]

.

 

[Avatar]

Now lets say you see a train rushing toward a bus full of babies. The driver has jumped out and is running toward a switch to change the trains course so it wont hit it. A wild liger shows up and eats the man.

You have a choice.

You can switch the trains course now causing the train to hit a baby that fell out and is laying on the next track.
And if you dont the liger will eat the boy.

What do you? let the bus full of babies die or the one kid?

The one kid. Is this supposed to be difficult? I learned greater than/less than in grade 1.

 

[white dove]

The fact is that you may be taking a hypothetical situation a lil too seriously. We were given a situation with certain parameters. Why would I concern myself with details outside the parameters when the OP has asked for solutions within the parameters given

Parameters he's changed around a bit. One of the only details he hasn't changed was the fact that this is a dictator... and that is one crucial detail you tend to bypass in your response.

 

[ranmaonehalf]

The one kid. Is this supposed to be difficult? I learned greater than/less than in grade 1.

It is essentially the same senario as the dictor one.
You can choose to essentially kill 1 to save the rest or let them all die.
(poor liger is hungry and will miss a meal if you let the train hit the baby..)

 

[ranmaonehalf]

ok you are running from a trex and it is following you and your friend to the puppy orphanage. You can trip your friend, let the dino eat you or you can run into the puppy orphanage.
Ok so what color are your eyes.

 

[Freodin]

The dictator's smart enough not to be in the room.

As I said before, this is an old ethical scenario.

Either you act, and 1 person dies, and you are directly responsible,

Or you don't act, and 100 people die, and you are indirectly responsible.

Which is the more moral decision?

Such utilitarian morals only work if the outcome of a situation is certain and inevitable.
In this case here, you have another moral agent whose actions bring the harm, not some unchanging fate.

Lawtonfogle tried to insert other points to make this outcome more certain, but that again is beyond the scope of the OP.

So I still say that your variant is incorrect.

Either you act, and 1 person dies, definitely, by your hands. You are responsible.

Or you don´t act, and 100 people MAY die. Perhaps they don´t. Perhaps they would have died anyway. But this is not within your power to change.

 

[Criada]

Seems that most people are more concerned about their own 'responsibility' than the fate of the children...