You have been given a gun and are locked in a room with another person. You have a choice, either shoot the person in the room with you (they can see you clearly and you can see them) or 50 people in a town many miles away (naturally you they can not see you nor you see them) will be slaughtered. Which do you choose,and why? (Please be honest rather than giving the 'correct' answer.
2006-10-21 10:32:01 · 34 answers · asked by mark_virgin 3 in Social Science ➔ Other - Social Science
The person in the room is just a 'random' nobody to you.
2006-10-21 10:54:56 · update #1
Why 3 thumbs down?
2006-10-21 12:03:47 · update #2
I would not shoot the person to save the 50 people from being killed. There is a difference between ACTIVELY KILLING the one person yourself and OMITTING TO SAVE the other 50. I would say that it is better to let someone die than kill someone.
2006-10-21 10:39:06 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
The 50 people in town is not an option, so it would depend on who that other person in the room is. If it's an Al Queda fanatic, terrorist, Kim Jong Il, or somebody like that, I will be doing a service by saving more than 50 people. If it's just some innocent stranger or a loved one, I guess I would turn the gun on myself. Nothing much anybody can do about my choice once I exercise that option. It's an impossible scenario, however. I wouldn't trust the murderers that would orchestrate such a scenario to spare me, so we'd both probably be dead anyway.
This is a "Sophie's Choice" question - sort of.
2006-10-21 10:41:37 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
To be honest I don't think I could shoot anyone then that means the 50 people in the town would die automatically , so I'd shoot myself then that still mean someone would die that if one of those options had to chosen. So I'd explain what my options where to the person in the room and say I'm very sorry but I'm going to have to shot you and give them this reason even tho my heart, body and spirit could not deal with the of murder of one man (person) I feel that to murder 50 people would destroy me an the I would ask them to turn there back to me then shoot the in the back of the head so its over quick and its painless.
2006-10-21 10:55:58 · answer #3 · answered by pink babe 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I can't really answer that question. I mean, is the person in the room with you a friend, or do you not know them? If you don't know them, then you should shot them to save all the rest of the lives. One kill is better than 50 slaughters. If you're friends with the person in the room with you, then I guess you should really look back on the friendship you had with him/her. If it was important to you, then ta hell with the rest of the people...friendships should always come first.
2006-10-21 10:41:41 · answer #4 · answered by angelchild688 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The question indicates that if I don't shoot the person in the room, then 50 people will be slaughtered!
No contest! The guy in the room gets it.
2006-10-21 11:46:06 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the person in the room with me was a friend or family memeber I honestly would let the 50 people die. Sucks I know but I'm being honest. If I did not know the person I would kill them and save the 50 people because that would do the most good for the most people.
2006-10-21 10:35:16 · answer #6 · answered by Christopher C 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The 50 in the town many miles away. There's always a chance the slaughter will go wrong and everyone will live!
2006-10-21 10:34:39 · answer #7 · answered by jameshens 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It rather depends on what the one has to offer. Does the other person appear to be wealthy, can he/she convince me? Is there paper on which to write a bill of exchange? Is anything known about the value of the 50 other people?
I feel that Donald Rumsfelt would probably be much more eloquent than I in explaining the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns etc that require consideration.
2006-10-21 10:42:26 · answer #8 · answered by Clive 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Kill the person in the room with me: 1 is better than 50, and I'd prefer it not to be me, as selfish as some of you may feel that is. The question required honesty though and thats what I'm being..
2006-10-21 10:38:57 · answer #9 · answered by Ollie 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
hmmm... depends on what I think about the person I see in the room... truthfuly if it looked like a really good person I'd probaly shoot up the town just cause it would be more of a random act and I wouldn't have to deal w/ it on my consience... true I'd probally shoot a few good people on the town but at least I wouldn't have to know that.
2006-10-21 10:37:31 · answer #10 · answered by 411sponge 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If any of the 50 people was someone I love and care about, the person in the room would just have to kiss their but goodbye!
2006-10-21 10:41:25 · answer #11 · answered by sam 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋