Life's Value

[Kobarokawa-San]

i heard someone saying that this forum lacks of discussions so lets try open a new one

Imagine this situation (very famous)

You were walking side by side with the train´s track
you look forward and then, ohhh, there are people there!! the track divides it self in two and there is:
in the left side someone we love
in the right there is a bunch of people
(i don´t know what they are doing there but it´s ok)

But wait, Ohhhh NO!! A train is coming!! OMG!!!
What i am going to do??

We have only one action possible: We don´t do nothing and kill the person or change the track direction and make that it goes and kills the group. so your choice is:

Save one person or Save a group?

It´s your Decision. Live or Die

Let the Game´s Begin

(i love JigSaw but i don´t remember the exact sentence he says every time when he talks for the last time with the victim)

What would you do?

I am still thinking about it :S
it´s not easy

[███]

Well as hard as this question is to understand let me try and rephrase it:

You can let a famous person die or a group of people.

I would choose the group of people, that way I could enjoy mugging the famous person and take his money.

[Kewii]

I think the OP missed a piece of how this discussion is supposed to work. It should say that the single person is a loved one. Which makes the question (kill a loved one or kill a group of people) a little bit more daunting.

Asking to choose between a random lone person and a random group of people isn't as big of a choice to make.

[Amray]

I would stand there and say "Hey dude! theres a train coming get off the tracks you stupid prat! What on Earth are you doing on there anyway? Do you want to die? Does you Mother know your doing this?"

Then walk off. If not then I'll act as if I was never there and let Nature take its course.

[Sagat]

To cover all aspects..

The random individual vs the group, well save the group. Better a lot of people I don't know live their lives than one.

If the single person was a loved one, screw the group, save the loved one. They have more importance to you, and since you are saving the lives here, you get to choose who survives.

If the single person was Koda Kumi, jump in front of the train and stop it with my bare hands. Whisk the swooned girl away back to my secret hideout.

[Hideki Motosuwa.]

There would be nothing I'd be able to do, considering how much I lack in size and strength.

[Renegade of Life]

If the single person was Koda Kumi, jump in front of the train and stop it with my bare hands. Whisk the swooned girl away back to my secret hideout.

Wouldn't it be more to the point to jump onto the train, throw the reverse, and then spin fire from the driving wheels as it goes full throttle in reverse to stop itself in the shortest possible distance?

The other option is to only throw the switch half-way. The result will be that the train derails, and due to it's momentum might pass in between the tracks- with a bit of luck nobody will get killed.

Finally, I choose the good of the many over the good of the one. Unless I happened to hate at least half the group, in which case I would save my loved one.

[MetalKnight]

The other option is to only throw the switch half-way. The result will be that the train derails, and due to it's momentum might pass in between the tracks- with a bit of luck nobody will get killed.

Way to go, you just killed hundreds of innocent passengers and damaged millions of dollars worth of cargo for a group of idiots who thought chilling at the tracks was the cool thing to do. (BTW, you definitely don't want to take that risk with a Japanese bullet train)


I know the "best" thing to do is to save the group... But I think my loyal selfishness would make me choose the one I care for.

[Dxon]

I would stand there and say "Hey dude! theres a train coming get off the tracks you stupid prat! What on Earth are you doing on there anyway? Do you want to die? Does you Mother know your doing this?"

Then walk off. If not then I'll act as if I was never there and let Nature take its course.

I too would do that. But that's not one of the two choices.

I would kill the lone person if the lone person is a random person I don't know.
I would kill the group if that lone person is someone I like/love. (Friends/family)

[Sanosuke23]

I would kill the lone person regardless of who they were.

Part two of this is just hilarious, by the way. Say there's a group of people standing on the tracks, and a train is coming. It's trying to stop but won't in time.

Standing next to you is an incredibly fat man, teetering on the edge of the cliff you're watching this from. If you push him off, the impact will slow the train down just enough to save the group. Do you push the fat man?

[Daenerys]

Push the fat man.

Totally push the fat man.

I'm defintely all about saving myself before anyone else. Next comes my family and friends.

Although I did one time try to save a little girls life and got hurt far more than she did in the end result.

Yeah that sucked.

[Dxon]

I would definetly TRY to push the fat man. He's probably so heavy so he can stop the train but it will be hard to push him.

I always safe myself first and then someone else.

[Amray]

Basically; "Would you rather a group of people die, or one fat man?"

Neither. I wouldn't get involved. I don't exactly want to kill this obese man for no reason. I suppose I would just walk up to the fat man and say;
"What a bunch of idiots standing on a railway, wouldn't you agree?"

[Dxon]

What if that group is tied to the rails?

[Amray]

Then I would say to him;
"How could you possibly eat at a time like this?" XD

[Dxon]

Hahaha That's evil.

[Eris]

Standing next to you is an incredibly fat man, teetering on the edge of the cliff you're watching this from. If you push him off, the impact will slow the train down just enough to save the group. Do you push the fat man?

That lacks a foundation in physics. Even if you put a bus on the tracks, with the exception of the slim possibility of the collision derailing the train, it will not stop a moving train in anything less than several hundred meters -- and that is with the train breaking. Trains have a craptastically high inertia.

[Dxon]

That lacks a foundation in physics. Even if you put a bus on the tracks, with the exception of the slim possibility of the collision derailing the train, it will not stop a moving train in anything less than several hundred meters -- and that is with the train breaking. Trains have a craptastically high inertia.

We all know that. So you don't have to ruin it.

[Amray]

Yes, That is correct.

A train travels at such a high speed that if you were to throw the smallest stone at one of the windows from the outside while it is in motion it could smash very easily, due to the speed of the train and not the stone. Same as if you dropped a brick from the top of a Bridge down onto one it may well just take the whole roof down.

[Sanosuke23]

That lacks a foundation in physics.

As I said, the train is TRYING to stop, and this is a truly immense individual. Like, both of those fat twins on tiny motorcycles put together fat or something. Motorcycles included.

... Look, I didn't make this thing up, okay? I'm just sharing the second part of the question.

[DynastyxFell]

It would be more ethical to save the group of people, but I would probably save the loved one. I can't stand losing people I love, and I would hate it even more if I knew there was something I could do to save them.
If the situation really happened, I'd make sure the loved one was safe, then do whatever I could to make the group of people to realise that there was a train coming. Shout, throw rocks, whatever. But of course that wasn't one of the options...

[Daenerys]

for reals, it's not like we're all in a math class. stop trying to drag the topic down with your rediculous banter. there is a question. answer it or leave it alone if you feel it's not possible in real life.

this is the internet, real life and physics need not apply.

[Amray]

As I said, the train is TRYING to stop, and this is a truly immense individual. Like, both of those fat twins on tiny motorcycles put together fat or something. Motorcycles included.

... Look, I didn't make this thing up, okay? I'm just sharing the second part of the question.

You best listen to the expert Eris. His a conductor I'll have you know.

[Eris]

for reals, it's not like we're all in a math class. stop trying to drag the topic down with your rediculous banter. there is a question. answer it or leave it alone if you feel it's not possible in real life.

this is the internet, real life and physics need not apply.

This is highly relevant. Even though this is strictly gedanken, applying real-world constraints allows us to eliminate the options that are not relevant to the scenario. Such as the fat man option. It's the standard problem algorithm, if you will.

Furthermore, if real world physics need not apply, then what's stopping me from simply using my psychic powers and teleporting the people out of the way, stopping time, summoning super man, etc.?

[Sanosuke23]

You best listen to the expert Eris. His a conductor I'll have you know.

I think "sie" is a more appropriate pronoun for Eris, who would prefer to keep hir gender a closely guarded international secret.

On a side note, I forgot to mention that in both cases the tracks are all surrounded by high cliffs, and there is no way anyone can run off the track before the train hits them.

The whole thing has to do with moral hemispheres or something.