Let five die or kill one?

[Miz]

Well Umm lets see...
A train is coming out you at full speed?
and you wouldn't hear it or see it, or see those weird crossing thingys that flash... Or do anything notice a train was coming at you.

If this was the case then its your fault for being on the rails
and like I said before, I am not one to judge between life or death so I would just let the reaper choose his victims

 

[stubs101]

Who put the railroad notion to work... it was a bad idea to begin with

Baby one: I would try to make it stop crying, but never kill it...

5>1: As bad as I feel about it... it depends who it is, but for argument's sake let's say as said before, you didn't know anything about it. I would kill the one person (by shooting him, not running him over with a train... my god people? a train???)


And how would the cops know the lever was pulled?

 

[Aqua Dragon]

Now if I could do anything, I would try to warn the other 5 guys of the train by any means. But thats not the case so...

I would NOT pull the lever. The reason is because I can stand back and let 5 people die, I know I could do something but if I did I would be actively killing a person instead of letting "nature" take its course. And one thing I never want to do is kill someone on purpose, no matter what.

 

[Sim]

I wouldn't activate the lever. I don't want to get involved in a murder case whatever the reason might be. Those 5 are just unlucky to be standing there...

 

[TheDamien]

Assuming I had no chance of being busted by the police or anything like that, I might pull the lever. To pull the lever would be the right thing to do.

 

[Insane!]

And how would the cops know the lever was pulled?

finger printing

==========================
To: kc102

the lever would have to be next to the tracks for it to work
and so i could just move the 1 guy and pull the lever

 

[Jessi]

This isn't so much a debate as it is a moral / ethical question. Nobody really has any grounds to argue w/ anyone else, cus nobody can really be a fair and honest judge. It would depend on who those people are. How old / young they are. How you feel towards those people. Are their lives good, are they happy, or did they perhaps place themselves in that situation to end it? Maybe they were listening to Goodbye Cruel World as they awaited the train. Do you know the individual person, or do you know the group of five? Is the death of five faceless, nameless persons more bearable to you (even if it was you who pushed the lever) than the death of one person who matters very much to you?

(here's me, trying to turn it into a conversation rather than an "answer the question" thread.)

Better debate topics could be chosen.

 

[ArmedCitizen]

She can only submit a debate topic to one of the moderators or administrators in charge of them. I agree fully that this question could have been asked in a better way.

Even if the question was a little yes or no type of thing you guys are looking at it completely wrong. They only used the train as a way to kill them. The people are listening to their headphones because there needs to be a way for them to die. And you are forgetting that the other guy is also doing something in which he can not hear the train. (Unless he is deaf.)

 

[King TonGoll]

Id kill the one guy. thats simple, lives can be counted. does not matter if he is going to find a cure or not, looks like he wouldn't if i was around.

 

[ArmedCitizen]

Id kill the one guy. thats simple, lives can be counted. does not matter if he is going to find a cure or not, looks like he wouldn't if i was around.

If you are going by that theory than you might have contradicted yourself. If he was to find a cure for say AIDS, Cancer, etc. than there would be more lives saved with him alive than the 5 that were killed. So the numbers would be in his favor.

 

[Rheias]

I had to delete over 10 posts, this is not a good sign. I'm tempted to ban the next members that will pass the debating rules.

Jessi, this is a debate. It is not like other debates that we had but it is still a debate, you need to say WHY you would kill / let die. Sure, it isn't something that requires research or something like that, but if you can express your opinion and defend it, it's a debate.

 

[Wiseman_2]

[EVIL GENIUS] I would let the 5 die, then wait for the next train to come along and switch it to get rid of the other guy [/EVIL GENIUS]

Seriously, I would have to let nature take its course. Why? because switching the train is not something which the driver expects. You could inadvertantly end up killing everyone onboard the train, or causing a collision with another train. I'm afraid I would make that the most important factor in any such decision.

 

[New_U.S.]

Depends on the scenario. If you know a person from one of the sets of people, you will let them live. Five faceless deaths are easier to cope with compared to one closer death. Think of this. You hear about death everyday. Turn on the news. Most of it you just shake your head, say that its terrible, and then go do something more fun. However if a friend dies or even someone you knew, its much more difficult to cope with.

Most likely what would happen is the person does not know either person. The train is coming. What would our helpful person do? Stare as the five people get crushed to their deaths. Shock and an ever want to be innocent stops them for sacrificing for the greater good. Although five lives were saved, there was one death that was directly connected by our hero. You will find that sacrifice doesn't come easy for most. Doing this is basicly a soldier mentality, killing others and maybe getting killed yourself for the protection of lives. Its hard. Let more die and just think of it as a bad memory instead of saving more lives and make a life changing experience. Its the easy way out.

My question is, what if you know a person on each track? I guess you have to deside who you like more

 

[King TonGoll]

If you are going by that theory than you might have contradicted yourself. If he was to find a cure for say AIDS, Cancer, etc. than there would be more lives saved with him alive than the 5 that were killed. So the numbers would be in his favor.

i said reguardless, due to two facts, the 5 need my help at the moment, and he wont find a cure, nor was he ever going to if i was to pull the lever, thus he never finds any cure and is useless.

 

[XXXconanXXX]

This boils down to simple mathematics.

Five lives are more significant than just one. I'd rather actively murder one person than enable the deaths of five others.

That or just nuke the train. That way everybody wins.

 

[SilverHawk]

Better debate topics could be chosen.

Feel free to suggest some in a PM to either Rheias, Ghan_04, or myself. We'd love to have your (and anyone else's) suggestions.

 

[darkRae]

> break

You mean the driver will pull the brake, to stop the train, maybe

Well, in my opinion, I'll just let the five die.
It's their fault standing there, don't they know the rules?
You broke the rules, now you pay for it.
The other guy is also standing on the railway, but that's not where the train will go (unless you change the direction)

I also don't want to be sued for killing people.

I also asked my friends about this, and one of them said :

I'd change the direction, because the other person didn't wear headphones so he might hear the train coming before it hit him. And if he did die then he would be happy in heaven for saving the lives of the other five.

Funny reason, I know, but that could be a good reason too

 

[~GaLs~]

>>It is not like other debates that we had but it is still a debate, you need to say WHY you would kill / let die. Sure, it isn't something that requires research or something like that, but if you can express your opinion and defend it, it's a debate.
Sorry about that, first time on the debate. As I don't know my post would break the rule.

Ok, back to topic.


I would not turn the lever.

Yes,yes, 5 people are gonna die in front of me,

Once I turned the leaver, finger prints are gonna lead me to the police station. As I don't know about other country... In Malaysia, once you got suspected in murder case, you're gonna get into the temp jail until someone proof that you didn't do it.

If there is none, I'm gonna die with the guy walking alone. :/No,no, I value my life.

Moreover, you don't know whose those 6 guys are. Maybe they are bad guys or maybe not?.. We/I don't know that, only God knows that. God wants to place them on the railway and leads them to heaven/hell, why should I bother that much?

I trust in God, I trust in fate.

It is their fate to face their death currently, none may interfere. Once interfered, you'll get yourself prisoned. (Case may different in other country.)

**Appologise upon mistake in info**

 

[Sil3nt]

^ i thought u were thehelper =O

And as for the debate. I'd assume that the station was empty/or close to since the five wouldnt be walking on the tracks without getting into trouble. So there walking with loud headphones ON the train tracks for no apparent reason. They deserve whats coming

 

[quraji]

It could be argued that if it were easy enough to pull the switch to save the group of five, that you'd be actively killing them if you didn't. And, actively killing the one person if you did.

Personally, I probably wouldn't flip the switch, because indifference is ftw.

It would be interesting to see the lawsuits to arise from the event if it happened though.