How altruistic are you?

[Richard]

Would you?  And don't squabble over semantics please...

My answer is a resounding NO.


EDIT: Horrible sentence in the poll.  The 1,000 people will:
- not be from your country
- you will not know any of them, they will just be faces

And you will die immediately.

[John Dibble]

It would be a heart-breaking decision to have to make, but no.

[Lunar]

It would depend on how I was feeling that day.  Right now, yes.

[Jake]

Probably Yes. 

[Nym90]

Yes.

Obviously it's an overly simplistic hypothetical situation that could never actually exist, but suspending that disbelief and assuming for a minute that it could, yes, I would sacrifice my life to save the lives of thousands of others.

[Richard]

Do you guys' answers change for:

-100 people?
-10 people?
-1 other person?

- a 50% chance to save one other person?
- a 20% chance?
- a 1% chance?

[Jake]

Do you guys' answers change for:

-100 people?
-10 people?
-1 other person?

- a 50% chance to save one other person?
- a 20% chance?
- a 1% chance?

-100 Possibly yes
-10 doubt it
-1 not someone I didn't know

-50% someone I know
 the rest no

[Nym90]

-100 people? I would
-10 people? I would
-1 other person? I would

- a 50% chance to save one other person? I would not
- a 20% chance? I would not
- a 1% chance? I would not

[Richard]

-100 Possibly yes
-10 doubt it
-1 not someone I didn't know

So you value your life to other's lives solely based on numbers?  Is there another factor?  What about 200?  Or 201?  Or 202?  Where is the breaking point?

[Richard]

-1 other person? I would

Hmm, then why don't you commit suicide so that all your organs can be harvested, thus saving the lives of up to 5 or even more people?

[Defarge]

Yes.
100 people, yes
10 people, yes
1 person from random other country, no.

[Jake]

-100 Possibly yes
-10 doubt it
-1 not someone I didn't know

So you value your life to other's lives solely based on numbers?  Is there another factor?  What about 200?  Or 201?  Or 202?  Where is the breaking point?

10 or 1 seems like to small of a number to die for.  100 is a slight possibility.  It depends on whether I had to think about it.  If the choice was I had to run into a fiery building to defuse a bomb that would kill 100 people, I would. If I had to think about it, no.

[Nym90]

-1 other person? I would

Hmm, then why don't you commit suicide so that all your organs can be harvested, thus saving the lives of up to 5 or even more people?

Well, waiting until I die naturally and then allowing them to be harvested at that point will save just as many lives. In fact, it may save more lives, as science will be more advanced then, and it is likely that organ transplants will thus be more successful than they are now.

And I would be willing to give up organs that I don't need in order to save other lives.

[KEmperor]

I'm not.

[A18]

No, I wouldn't.

[Gabu]

Hard decision, but yes, I probably would.  I'm assuming that the people are good and honest citizens, not serial killers or something.

At any rate, I cannot believe that selflessness is being criticized.  Sheesh.

[A18]

Who's criticizing it?

[KEmperor]

Who's criticizing it?

I'm not, but I would if I cared about this thread.

[Gabu]

Who's criticizing it?

It's not direct criticism, but there's just something that seems wrong about Richius' harping on people who have answered yes to this question.

[Nym90]

Hard decision, but yes, I probably would. I'm assuming that the people are good and honest citizens, not serial killers or something.

At any rate, I cannot believe that selflessness is being criticized. Sheesh.

He said that they were random people, but as I do believe that there are more good people in the world than bad people, I would likewise make this assumption.

So I think that 1,000 randomly chosen people on Earth are going to tend to be more good than bad. Obviously, yes, if they were criminals, I wouldn't.

[A18]

Who's criticizing it?

I'm not, but I would if I cared about this thread.

Why?

[John Dibble]

I think the better question, above all those asked, is what would you be willing to die for?

As I said, I don't see 1000 random foreign people I don't know as worth my own life - nor would it be 1000 Americans I don't know. My responsibility is to myself, first and foremost, and I value my own life - just because those people have a right to life does not mean that their superior numbers overrides my own life. Government may operate on this premise, which is their responsibility I do believe when such situations might come up in the real world(ex - let 100,000 citizens die at the hands of invaders, or have 1000 soldiers die in battle to save them, stuff like that), but, as I said, that's not my responsibility. My responsibility is to my own life and to that of those I care about.

On the other hand, I might be willing to die for a singular person I know and value, if it was necessary to do so. If I thought that life without that person would be worse than death, I would die to protect that person.

If you'd die for 1000 other people, I don't criticize that, it's you who determines what your life is worth and if you think the exchange is worth it then do so.

[KEmperor]

Who's criticizing it?

I'm not, but I would if I cared about this thread.

Why?

Pretty much what Dibble said.

[Gabu]

Who's criticizing it?

I'm not, but I would if I cared about this thread.

Why?

Pretty much what Dibble said.

John Dibble also said that he wouldn't criticize anyone who wanted to die to save 1,000 people.

[Lunar]

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In regards to a random amount of empty faces, it would need to be subjectively a "high amount" for me to sacrifice myself.  I don't think I'd do it for 10, but 1,000 is over the limit.  I don't know what the limit is, it would change based upon my mood that day as I said, I can just tell if I'm over it or not.

In regards to non-empty faces, people I know personally, I would not hesitate to jump in front and take the bullet if it were one of the people I have huge amounts of respect for.  There's probably a dozen and a half of them.  Otherwise, no.

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There is a philisophical theory that views self-sacrifice as evil.  Oddly enough it's Ayn Rand's Objectivism.