Ethical dilemma

[John Dibble]

The self is at the center of the universe.  And the immediate family.  It must be.  And any member of the species who is so altruistically motivated to sense otherwise is destined to become a failure.  This is nature's way of culling the undesirables of the herd, and ensuring that the strongest and most selfish survive.  Ethics is a veneer of deceit imposed on the universe by the self-ordained most highly evolved species.  ("Hey, baby, I'm a nice guy.  Do me.")  And it is a thin veneer that flakes off pretty easily at the first sign of mortal danger. 

LOL! So true. Many here might answer that they'd take the maiming, but if you were in reality given this choice, you might choose differently.

[John Dibble]

The self is at the center of the universe.  And the immediate family.  It must be.  And any member of the species who is so altruistically motivated to sense otherwise is destined to become a failure.  This is nature's way of culling the undesirables of the herd, and ensuring that the strongest and most selfish survive.  Ethics is a veneer of deceit imposed on the universe by the self-ordained most highly evolved species.  ("Hey, baby, I'm a nice guy.  Do me.")  And it is a thin veneer that flakes off pretty easily at the first sign of mortal danger. 

There is a lot to be said for Angus' comment, but on the other hand many good men have given up their lives for others, 10,000 on D-day alone.

That's true - but you have to wonder about one thing. How many of them actually expected to die in the battle? Not many, I would think - it's hard to wage a war if your troops expect to die, unless they believe there's some sort of reward waiting on the other side for dying in battle.(like honor for the Japanese in WWII or Muslims who think they'll get a bunch of virgins in heaven)

[John Dibble]

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  John 15:12

Of course, more of us would be likely to make sacrifices for people we know - our friends, family, neighbors and whatnot are important to us. The thing is though, we wouldn't necessarily be willing to make the same sacrifices for people we don't know at all - they wouldn't hold the same meaning to us. If you hear about 100 people dying in a plane crash, you'll basically shake your head and go 'that sucks, but oh well', but if just one close friend dies you'll be far more shaken up.