Ethical Proposition By A Bunch Of Aliens (from one of my philo classes)
So, a bunch of aliens come along and tell us this:
We are beings from another dimension. In case you're wondering, we are the ones who created the comos in which you live. We can destroy it instantly or let it continue on as is. Your choice."
We ask, "What, then, is the choice?"
"Just give us an 8 year old girl who we'll make immortal and we'll give you back your cosmos."
"What will you do with her? Whatever we want. Primarily, we enjoy torture. We'll torture her till the end of time. If you won't do that, we'll bring everything you know to an abrupt end. What is your choice?"
How would you analyze this? The greatest good for the greatest number or what?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by onyango makagutu on -
To start, you philosophy lecturer was a nut case :)
This would be a moral dilemma. Is it acceptable for one person to be tortured eternally for the benefit of many or so we allow the aliens to call their bluff and destroy all we know.
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Permalink Reply by Ray R. on -
That is an impossible choice . I would , however , answer them with a resounding , "go fuck yourselves" .
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Permalink Reply by SteveInCO on -
I tend to agree.
There's a similar vein of contrived scenarios, for example you are in a nazi death camp; and they put you in a bulldozer, and order you to drive over other inmates of the camp; if you don't they will shoot you and drive the bulldozer over them anyway; correct response is "fuck you, asshole." Hopefully you can get the whole suggestion out before the bullet scrambles your brains.
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Permalink Reply by Gregg R Thomas on -
I'd hit the gas peddle hard.
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Permalink Reply by Amanda Mrakovich on -
+1
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Permalink Reply by Belle Rose on -
I say fight to protect the girl and tell the aliens to go fuck themselves! Why should we trust anything they "say" when they are obviously untrustworthy based on their demands. They are certainly not moral. So why should we sit back and take their ultimatum like a bunch of wimps?
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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on -
Independence Day! Where's Will Smith when we need him?
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Permalink Reply by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on -
Haha, he's working for the other guys, now?
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on -
They could perhaps give a minor demonstration of their power. Making the Moon rotate relative to the Earth, perhaps. The problem is, they can't do anything at a great distance because of the time it would take for the demonstration to be perceived here.
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Permalink Reply by Belle Rose on
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Who's to say it isn't a trick question? Perhaps they would say if we hand over the innocent child for our own selfish preservation that they will destroy us because we're not worth the dirt we walk on,
Or
They may destroy us no matter what we do if they are that manipulative.
Or
They will keep coming back for more "demands" and eventually destroy us anyway...
Besides
Being that we are a group that demands evidence I'm really surprised no one would think to challenge their claim. What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence...so go ahead aliens, kill us all. Then you will have to create something else to torture!!!!
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Permalink Reply by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on
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We'd have to make her legendary; a martyr. Like, Jesus.
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Permalink Reply by Byrnes Steel on -
except real
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