Your plane crashes

[The Nihilist]

So you'd disobey to avoid being guilty?

Obedience implies that the dictator has some legitimate authority. What I'd say instead is that I'd ignore his demands because I would refuse to become a murderer.

 

[Freodin]

This isn't about the ending.

Anyway, for those who may be in a quandary about this, here's a hint of sorts: think about why the dictator wants you to kill that child.

"That child"? Does he want me to shoot a specific child or simply one of the 100?

 

[yguy]

Doesn't matter which one.

 

[Nathan Poe]

This is Utilitarian ethics. John Stuart Mill wrote a great essay about this.

For the purposes of this exercise, I'm going to assume the dictator is telling the truth:

1. about letting the 99 go if I shoot one.
2. that he will kill them all if I refuse to cooperate.
3. that there areno other options.

That being said, the dilemma is this: My own moral code says that killing is wrong, but if I do not break my code to kill one innocent, 100 innocents will suffer.

Is being indirectly responsible for 100 deaths better or worse than being directly responsible for 1?

Utilitarianism weighs moral actions according to which cause the most good for the most people. If I act, 2 people suffer (myself and whoever I shoot) -- if I don't act, 101 people suffer.

I'd pick one at random and shoot. My conscience is not worth 100 innocent lives.

This is similar to the Joker's scenario at the end of The Dark Knight -- would you blow up a ferry full of people in order to save your own life?

Of course, the people on that ferry also have the option of blowing you up -- which adds a certain sense of urgency to the scenario

 

[Freodin]

Doesn't matter which one.

Then I cannot think of any valid reason why he would want me to shoot a child.

What is his reason?

 

[yguy]

What is his reason?

You have all the information you need to figure it out.

 

[quatona]

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

What do you mean - "right"? An answer you like best?

 

[quatona]

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.

So I am supposed to consider a guy I barely know capable of and willing to kill 100 children, but not capable of lieing to me just to fool me into killing one child?

 

[tansy]

I think in theory, i would not shoot any of them.
You never know...in that instant the dictator might drop dead from a heart attack or something, and his minions would be in such disarray, the children could go free

 

[Freodin]

You have all the information you need to figure it out.

All my "figuring out" could be wrong, so I´ll resort to the most reliable way of finding out people´s motivations: by asking them.

So Mr.Dictator, why do you want me to shoot one of those children?

 

[quatona]

I guess the fact that my plane crashed and that it´s a foreign country I am in is essential to the solution.

 

[yguy]

So I am supposed to consider a guy I barely know capable of and willing to kill 100 children, but not capable of lieing to me just to fool me into killing one child?

Neither alternative is inconsistent with ruthlessness.

 

[yguy]

So Mr.Dictator, why do you want me to shoot one of those children?

He's in a meeting right now, but he says "None of your business. Just do it or else."

 

[quatona]

Neither alternative is inconsistent with ruthlessness.

Thus, with everything else being unpredictable, I´ll just do what I would do anyways: not kill any children.

 

[CCGirl]

Not kill any of the children.

 

[Freodin]

He's in a meeting right now, but he says "None of your business. Just do it or else."

So I don´t know his reason. I am left to speculate, based on what I know, previous experience or extrapolation.

So what are the possible reasons I can think of?

1. He wants all of the children dead. Unlikely, he would have better means to kill 100 children.
2. He wants one of the children dead. Unlikely, as he did not specify a child.
3. He wants all of children dead and wants to blame someone else for being responsible. Unlikely, he could blame me regardless of what I did.
4. He wants all of the children dead, but wants a clear conscience. Unlikely, does not jive with "ruthless".
5. He wants to get to me, either for disobeying his order or for killing a child. Unlikely, ruthless dictators do not need convoluted scenarioes to accuse you of anything.

So I cannot think of a valid reason. My bad, I really don´t care what reason he has. He either tells me or leaves me to my own devices. If he does not tell me, I´m not to blame for not second-guessing him.

Of course, his reason might be "self-evident", so I cannot see it.

 

[quatona]

Not kill any of the children.

You...hippie!

 

[CCGirl]

You...hippie!

well........

 

[b&wpac4]

Ok, I'll give the sadistic answer:

Unload the entire clip into the room, killing as many as possible. After that, start beating them with the gun until all are dead, or the guards show up.

You might make a new friend in the dictator and raise your own status.

Is that the "correct" answer, yguy?

 

[MoonlessNight]

No, the correct answer is to move all the children out of the room where they will be in the "protection from bullets" zone created by the dictator.