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Mephi2K
Registered Member
Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 713
| Posted 2/18/2002 4:35 AM (GMT -6) |   | Here we go. Poll question time. Since we don't have a poll feature, I'm going to have to do this a bit differently. There is a story below that is immediately followed by 3 "YES" or "NO" questions. If you choose to participate, please read the story directly below, and then answer the questions!
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Scenario Begin
Person Z has 5 children, and is living quite comfortably with her spouse and family. They are not overly wealthy, but they are well-to-do. This is VERY important. Ms Z's family is NOT in any type of poverty or destitution. They are just fine. One day, a man comes to their door and knocks on it. Ms. Z opens the door and the man offers her a chance to play a game. With this game, she has the opportunity to win 20 million dollars! With this game, there is a 1,000,000 to 1 chance that she will LOSE the game. At first, she thinks it a big colossal joke...until the man and his assistant bring out two big suitcases with 20 million dollars IN CASH! At this point, she is ALREADY about to run around the room. She considers all the wonderful things that she can do for her children with the money. She could provide for their futures, and provide them with opportunities she had only DREAMED of as a child.
Calming down a bit, she asks again. "Are you POSITIVE the odds are 1 million to 1 IN MY FAVOR???" "Absolutely," says the man. "Think of it as a reverse lottery. You pick a series of 10 numbers. The only way you LOSE is if we have exactly those numbers in that order." At this point, she thinks that she's about to faint. "I CAN'T LOSE," she thinks. After a little bit of hollerin', she calms down a bit and asks, "Ok. So what's the deal if I lose?" When she asks this question, the man's visage changes considerably, becoming completely somber. "We should probably sit down for this, Ms. Z." Everyone sits down.
The man starts. "I won't lie to you, Ms. Z. The odds are IMMENSELY in your favor...but the cost of you lose is considerable. On the off chance that you lose, you will be forced to hand over one of your children to us." "WHAT?!?" screams Ms. Z, "Are you serious??" "Very," replies the man, without expression. "And just what would happen to them if you were to take them??", she asks, incredulous. "Well, that's something a bit worse." says the man. "The child will be taken and tortured for an undisclosed amount of time before they are eventually killed." When he says this, Ms. Z goes limp. "I can't believe you people have the GALL to even ask people this question," she exclaims. "Well, that's the facts of the matter, Ms. Z. Take it or leave it." says the man. "Now, will you play the game or not? REMEMBER, your chances of winning are IMMENSE! We've had TONS of people to win! Now, what will you do?"
Ms. Z goes off to think to herself:
"I can't believe this. I just can't believe this. One of my KIDS??? Tortured and KILLED???? That's a horrible price to pay. Unspeakable, almost. But on the other hand, look at the TREMENDOUS odds in my favor. It seems like almost a shoe-in that I could win. And think about all the things that I could do for my kids with that money. They could have the best of everything. But wait a minute. My husband and I have great jobs and our family doesn't really want for much AS IT IS NOW! Strictly speaking, we don't NEED this money! But it would be very nice to have. Oh, dear. What do I do? What do I DO?"
After some time of deliberation, Ms. Z comes back to the man. "Have you reached a decision," asks the man. "Yes, I have, sir," she says nervously. "I've decided to play your game. Yes, it's a risk, but the benefits are too much to ignore!" She plays the game...
End of scenario.
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I'm going to leave the outcome in doubt. The questions that I want to ask is this:
1) Do you feel that Ms. Z's choice to play the game was a MORALLY JUSTIFIABLE one?
2) Do you feel that a truly LOVING mother would have made the choice that Ms Z made?
3) Do you feel that a truly GOOD mother would have made the choice that Ms Z made?
Here's my thesis: I believe that this will turn out to show that, when a risk is made on a fundamentally UNNECESSARY venture, the moral justifiability will not lie in the PROBABILITY OF ACCOMPLISHING ONE'S GOAL. The moral justifiability will be in what one deems an ACCEPTABLE LOSS. Thus, it wouldn't matter is there is an immense probability that one would "win". One could still say that a person was a cold hearted, immoral person just for even CONSIDERING risking a potential consequence.
YOUR votes will help me see if my intutions are correct! What I want you guys to do is to answer the 3 bolded questions above in yes or no format FIRST. Then I'd like for you to explain your reasoning. I've no doubt that many of you will know where I'm going with this, but for right now, I want y'all to focus on this scenario and your answers to it.
PLEASE EVERYONE PARTICIPATE!!!!!
If you are NOW reading this, please at least just give the answers like so:
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
This is essentially all I need. I would LIKE for you to justify your reasoning but if you don't have time don't worry about it. Thanks for participating!
IMPORTANT PS:
I just had a thought. Should have thought of it earlier Let's make this a LITTLE more interesing. Let's say that the game is such that EVEN WHEN YOU LOSE, you get at least 2 million dollars! Yes, the child is still taken, tortured, and killed, but you will RIGHT THEN receive 2 million dollars. Please factor this into the scenario above! (I don't think that it will change answers much, but...)
Edited by - mephi2K on 02/18/2002 10:34:12 AM | | Back to Top | | |
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