If you could push a button and...

outside looking in

outside looking in

<b>Registered Member</b>
The ages old philosophical question. I've never believed there was a "right" or a "wrong" answer, since the question is thankfully such an extreme hypothetical and something we don't have to face in normal life. I still find it interesting from time to time to poll people's opinions and thoughts on the subject.

So... how would you respond to the following:

(1) If you could push a button that killed a random person in China and rid the world of cancer, would you?
(2) Would you consider it ethical and moral if you did push the button?
(3) Would your response be different if the button killed a citizen of your country?
(4) A close friend?
(5) An immediate family member?
(6) You?
 
I'd push it for all of the above. Simply, it's for the better good.
 
The only button I could push without hesitation would be #6 -- myself. Couldn't possibly make the decision to take someone else's life, regardless of the greater good... If I knew them, I'd be losing someone I care for, and creating pain for other friends/relatives. If I didn't know them, I'd always wonder about their lives, their families, what they might still have been able to accomplish. :shrug:
 
I'd pick them all. The issues would come if you were to increase that number to 1,000 or 10,000. Cancer kills a whole whack more than just 10k per year, but the more that I'd have to kill...the harder that I'd have to think before pushing that button.
 
mosquitos really have no use, do they? they just bite and reproduce, i think. correct me if i be wrong, yo.
flies are at least useful in the decomposing of shtuff.
 
Fly larvae, aka maggots, consume dead flesh that is already decomposing. They don't have anything to do with decomposition itself. In any case, they do a heckuva lot more harm than good. I wouldn't mind offing fleas and ticks as well.
 
mosquito larvae are a food source for fish -- birds and bats eat the adults -- I hate mosquitos, myself, but would hate a world without birds and healthy ponds even more....
 
Ms Ann Thrope said:
mosquito larvae are a food source for fish -- birds and bats eat the adults -- I hate mosquitos, myself, but would hate a world without birds and healthy ponds even more....
Click to expand...

Let them eat cake...Off WITH THEIR HEADS!!! ;)
 
id push it even though someone would die many others will be saved. but id feel somewhat guilty that i took a life id also be relieved that many other lives were saved
 
Great question. I'd like to say all of them too but I don't know that I would. I believe you don't really know until you're faced with such a dilemma; especially in such life and death circumstances. Something funny happens to people when placed in situations like that-you don't always do what you think you're going to do.

I'm pretty afraid of dying and having complete nothingness. That there is nothing, NOTHING after death. But I've also lost loved ones to cancer and have cared for many that were dying of it also. It's a tough question I don't think I could answer honestly so quickly. But I might think I'd be selfish and answer yes only to some of the questions. Or maybe I'd have a bout of bravery and do it anyway. I've learned in the past that I can be pretty damn brave when the situation calls for it.

Here's a question... What if *I* had cancer and I pushed the button? I knew I would die anyway and I'd have a chance to make sure that didn't happen again... Then I'd definately do it. ;)
 
1)Yes. One dies, millions live. Pretty cynical, but hey. It's for the greater good, right?
2)Yes.
3)No, a person should not to be judged by race but by actions.
4)Prolly not.
5)Prolly not.
6)No. I don't believe in suicide, nor sacrificing myself "for the greater good".

Conclusion: Let them die, not me.
 
ash r said:
they just bite and reproduce, i think. correct me if i be wrong, yo.
flies are at least useful in the decomposing of shtuff.
Click to expand...
I know some people who fit that description quite well....
 
push........ push....... push..... push.... push... push.. push. push pushpushpushpushpushpushpush!

I would have to push it about 1,000,000 times on the off chance that it might take out John Elway.
 
I'd like to think I could push the button in all instances named above. But one never really knows until faced with the decision.
 
Interesting note Bish.

For the people that would push the button in all circumstances, how would you feel about...

(7) 100 random people?
(8) 1000...?
(9) Name a number lower than what cancer kills in a day, year, ever, whatever...?
(10) All of your current friends?
(11) All of your family, immediate and remote?
 
Note that as the number of random people killed goes up, this becomes very much like the decision to go to war, drop an atomic bomb, etc...

;)
 
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