Welcome to the trolley problem.
I always always hated that problem. It is so contrived. Have you seen trolleys? They are freaken slow and full of safeties. Also the workers would have locked out the line.
I mean, most Christians would say yes because that’s the entire premise of the crucifixion.
This interpretation leaves out the most important part of the crucifixion story: Jesus willingly took on the world’s sins out of love. So whether or not most Christians would say yes depends on if the one person being tortured has a choice in the matter, which is unspecified in the question.
I came to say the same thing. This is exactly what Christianity believes.
But of course, it was Jesus who gave himself willingly.
If he was forced to do that, it would’ve been reprehensible because he was the only truly innocent person who ever lived.
If that one innocent person agrees to it, I say yes. Otherwise, no.
If nobody volunteers, we all go down.
Then it becomes are you willing to torture innocents to save everyone else?
If they volunteer yes. But torture you sign up for isn’t torture; a key aspect of torture is its nonconsensual nature.
No it’s not morally preferable. Fuck that world that requires human sacrifice.
Just out of interest, what if we make it a (not-human) animal instead of a human? Or, what if we make it trillions of animals every year. What about a world that doesn’t require it but still includes mass amounts of animal sacrifice unnecessarily? That’s the world we’re in right now 😂
Most peoples empathy differs from human to animal.
But it shouldn’t. Our empathy with other humans all boils down to knowing their ability to suffer. And science today agrees, that most animals are able to suffer and feel pain just like us. We really should include them into our circle of moral consideration and thankfully more and more people already do
Empathy is not rational. It’s more based on ability to relate to others experience. We are more empathic to people closer in our life and to people who made similar experiences as we. The same goes for animals, we have much more empathy towards pets and animals we perceive as intelligent. But it would be nice if we expanded our empathy - but first it need to include all humans and even that is quite the large asking.
I agree. It would be practical and coldhearted, not moral.
It’s also a fake question because there is no situation where torturing someone makes the world a better place.
I mean the “first world” is built entirely on the sacrifices of the rest of the world. People live in unimaginably horrible conditions so that we can consume and be free.
I’ll take a different approach here. Evolution does not care about your feelings.
If a species is unwilling to self-sacrifice for the greater good, and it comes up against an event that cannot be solved with selfishness, it goes extinct. Like in this scenario.
But evolution is a motherfucker, and evolution does not care about your feelings, the only thing that matters to evolution is reproductive success. So some people are going to be altruistic because that’s better for the species because it makes it more survivable.
I’m not saying it’s right, I’m not saying it’s wrong, but the species that’s going to survive is the one that’s willing to self sacrifice for the greater good of the species. To increase reproductive success. And that’s what’s going to be left in the universe. Because evolution does not care. You either get with the program or you get out of the gene pool no other option
Evolution is not a good base for morals. We tried it out - was really bad.
Now hold on. How can we be certain? Maybe holocaust 2: electric boogaloo will be better
I’m in Germany, so not sure if allowed to answer.
Sure you can! Say it with me: “Eugenics and genocide aren’t a fast track to an improved gene pool. Holocaust 2 is bad news bears.”
Dang, I’m already marching on the street with a burning torch.
Evolution works, we exist.
Sure, but is a bad basis for morals. Like I said - social Darwinism is dodgy at best.
You know Darwin himself was against the idea. He argued that our ability to look after one another was one of the most vital parts of being human and we can’t save humanity by giving up our humanity.
How did you manage to interpret my comment in a way that I support social Darwinism?
Oh agreed! 100%!! Evolution has no morality baked into it just efficaciousness.
So using evolution to reason moral questions is not the best way to go.
It may not be the happiest way to go but I think it’s the only self-consistent way to go.
As an individual I totally believe in making the world a better place, do unto others as that you would have them do unto you, all of that. But in the scenario where the world’s going to end unless one dude sacrifices themselves, I would say basic instinct kicks in. The tribe must survive!
I hope you just pretend that you don’t know what social Darwinism is and how applying it worked out in the end.
Is that person Rupert Murdoch? Then yes
Can we torture 10 deserving people instead of 1 innocent?
An inherently flawed world maintaining its function through cannibalism will inevitably devour itself into nonexistence. Why prolong its suffering?
Has that happened? No really I am asking for evidence. We have had forms of slavery since our species began. It wasn’t like one time we had a slave 20,000 years ago. The world still basically works with humans using humans. We don’t have to like it, we should fight it, but the idea that you are stating that if we are bad once we lose everything doesn’t match with the facts that we have.
I am typing this while wearing clothing made by children on a phone made by slaves in China.
Someone’s been looking too much into Procedure Montauk 110
Prepare for the
Metamemeticthreat to be quarantined and for this whole infection vector to be [REDACTED]
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I think it has happened numerous times already under the same pretense.
I am not sure if we are saved or not.
I’d just walk away from Omelas.
A great story that illustrates this question really well. It is by Ursula K. Le Guin, written in 1973, if anyone is wondering.
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Let’s put more of the responsibility in the individuals hands. Would you be willing to carry out the torture of innocents under the belief that your actions guarantee peace?
Yes
Not really. It’s more like:
Everyone ending
One innocent ending to keep everyone else alive
That’s more challenging.
But living is suffering.
I would say “life is a struggle”. Of course it’s challenging, it doesn’t mean that it’s bad.
Regardless, what’s your point?
You use the word struggle to give some kind of meaning to the suffering.
My point is that there is no answer to the question because life is suffering.
While I see your point, I don’t ascribe to the nihilistic point of view that life has no meaning therefore no reason. I find it dark and disheartening. To me, the fact that we can even have this conversation is a miracle and there’s a certain happiness I get from knowing that despite my suffering and yours, we are still strangers who can engage in a conversation and have fun with it (I hope this is how you feel, too!).
I’m more of an absurdist. While there may be no end to the suffering, we can still derive pleasure and satisfaction from life. We can enjoy it if we want find ways to, because that’s our natural desire, to seek happiness.
If you want to try looking at life like that, then this question becomes MUCH more interesting. Because despite suffering, this society found a way to continue. The question of whether or not it’s moral, or how it’s moral, depends on if life has meaning.
All questions kind of depend on that, no?
True, but I think those being explicitly tortured will be suffering a lot more than the average person. We can define it as that for the hypothetical anyway xD
More challenging is to remove the benefit of answering as a bystander and hand over an active role, so now the question is would you torture an innocent to keep the world alive. Then question progresses to what if that innocent is someone you care most about to see the extent of their resolve
Unfair to ask the question in the incomplete form… The tortured person is you. Now answer
Are you trying to make an arguement for Christianity?
I would not do it, if somebody else does it - so be it.
