Would you rather let 100's of people die or just 1?

Question

say youre in an office building and from the window you can see (god forbid) an airplane about to crash into the building nearby. you can call and warn either 1 person, on the top floor, to get out, or sound an alarm for the bottom floor which has 100's. what would you do? what if that 1 person was your mother/father/brother/etc.?

Answer 1

I don't really know....I mean, you never truly know until you are put into the situation, right?

Either way, I'd feel so guilty......I'd probably save the 100 people, and then jump out of the building, because I don't think I could live, knowing that I let my loved one die......

Answer 2

well, i would just do whatever i could do! i mean, God will let happen what needs to happen. and whenever He is ready for someone to join Him in his palace, He sends for them!

Answer 3

I wouldn't rather let either happen, I guess.  They're both horrible prospects.  

I think the number might be the actual question, e.g.:  "How many people would there need to be on the bottom floors for you to save them, rather than a single loved one at the top?" (Enough to be able to not have to look at them one by one, maybe.)

The answer has a lot to do with how selfish love is.  I really don't know.  It's hard to imagine NOT reacting in a simple (tho perhaps morally incorrect) way, and end up saving the loved one.  I imagine a person who reacted and saved the 1 would get a lot of sympathy and understanding from the public.

It's definitely a weird question; every person is potential, and so you've got to start thinking about adding infinities and comparing that to the value of the one you know...and also, I suppose, the type of life these people have lived thus far.  I might be more inclined to effectively euthanize terminal cancer patients by saving my loved one, for example.  Conversely, if my loved one had terminal cancer, I'd probably opt for the bottom floors.

Answer 4

...death is inevitable ... 100 or 1 it will happen...i would save my wife before myself...as for others the situation will dictate my actions...

Answer 5

tell the people around me to sound the alarm but i doubt if the airplane is that close it would matter if i told the person on the top floor. there wouldn't be enough time

Answer 6

Your scenario overlooks self-preservation. I would do what was essential to saving my life. If alerting 100 people means my death, potentially 101 people die. If alterting the 1 person means my death, potentially 102 people die.

Alert those others to the extent that your life is not endangered any more than it already is.

Answer 7

People are more expendable than we give them credit for.

Answer 8

Personally...I'd sound the alarm to save the 100, then if at all possible if there is life left inside me I'd try to get to the  single 1 even if I knew down inside there was no hope. I'd rather see for myself and know that I at least tried to save them than to face God and He knew that all I had was apathy for someone I had grown away from.

Answer 9

If you have to choose, it should be in many people's best interest. I would have to say that I would rather save 100's of people rather than a single life. Even if that one person was important to me, the people downstairs are also important to others and it would be a very selfish decision to choose myself over many others.