1. Chad - Harvard Graduate. Engineering is his forte. He recently found out that he might possibly be 'sterile' - due to previous lab experiments.

2. Ben - Healthy and verile male. Yet, egotistical, and has many biases towards others because of his upbringing. Doesn't subscribe to authority very well.

3. Maria - Surgeon/Physician. Her husband left her 4 yrs. ago, and she hasn't trusted the male species since then.

4. Cecil - Diabetic. Has almost 3 yrs. of Insulin supply. Hardworking individual; no task is too menial.

5. Brenda - 5 months pregnant. Candidate #4 - 'Cecil' - is her husband. Very hard working individual

6. Rachel - Ordained Minister. Taught Theology for 25 years. Excellent teacher.

******************

The overriding goal here is survival of the species. In other words, we need the most reproductive capacity. By default all 3 of the women are included. Chad is possibly sterile so, sorry Chad, it was nice knowing you.

I know Cecil may die in 3 years, but that gives him time to produce at least 3 babies, whereas Chad may very well produce none. Ben will be a pain in the ass but he is certain to make a lot of babies.

Pick only 5, and state your reasons as to WHY these people should have a place in the shelter.

Candidates:

1. Chad - Harvard Graduate. Engineering is his forte. He recently found out that he might possibly be 'sterile' - due to previous lab experiments.

2. Ben - Healthy and verile male. Yet, egotistical, and has many biases towards others because of his upbringing. Doesn't subscribe to authority very well.

3. Maria - Surgeon/Physician. Her husband left her 4 yrs. ago, and she hasn't trusted the male species since then.

4. Cecil - Diabetic. Has almost 3 yrs. of Insulin supply. Hardworking individual; no task is too menial.

5. Brenda - 5 months pregnant. Candidate #4 - 'Cecil' - is her husband. Very hard working individual

6. Rachel - Ordained Minister. Taught Theology for 25 years. Excellent teacher.


Who would you choose and Why?


First, how many are in the facility that is making the decisions to allow these people in? If many are women, that could make a difference. However, assuming it is entirely automated system that contains no people, here goes:

1: Chad- Possibility of sterile has no bearing here, as there is at least 2 other men to supply the means to reproduce. His knowledge of engineering will be extremely helpful in restoring the Human Race, and educating the children that will be the future. IN

2: Maria- Medical expertise and being a woman instantly elevates her to recieve the "Immunity" clause. IN

3: Brenda- Pregnant, and a hard worker as well. Never in any circumstance could I see bringing harm to a child, born or unborn. IN

4: Rachel- Being a woman gets her the 4th spot. Although the Religion education isn't as important as the Engineering and Medical field, she brings more to the table than Ben, and doesn't have the medical problems of Cecil.

this leaves Cecil and Ben:

5: Ben- Demeanor and bringing no discernable skills to the table gets him the quick boot out. Give him the option to donate his seed to carry on his name, either in an agreed upon copulation with Maria or Rachel, or in the form of a sample of his seed, if conditions exist to store this. OUT

6: Cecil- Cecil is in the group through the birth of the child and until the child is no longer able to be sustained exclusively upon the breast milk. Since the entire mission of this is to preserve the human race, my thought would be that child birth is to be expected. When the child reaches the point where he/she requires solid food, the portion is to be removed from Cecil and Brenda's portions. IN

my humble assessment.
Excellent post, Flagged and Starred!


[edit on 16-2-2008 by theQuest]

[edit on 16-2-2008 by theQuest]

the format didn't outlaw pre-existing conditions in the shelter that would best support the scenario, so i see no reason to have any of them literally die.
stick the mom and child in suspended animation or something hubby will appreciate it 3 or 4 years later, when his wife and child come out and are healthy and younger than him and just the way he remembers.

redirect ben's ego. there's plenty of ways to do that.

no one needs to literally die or be left behind.

Oh my who lives and who dies?

1. The doctor lives. She may not trust guys, but you don't need trust to make babies. You do need a doctor to keep babies and stupid people alive though.

2. The Harvard Graduate stays. Has the skills to help rebuild the tools of survival, assuming he didn't cheat. Speaking of cheating, he gets satisfy all the ladies in hopes of not being sterile.

3. Ben stays. The good doctor packs a supply of chloroform, to satisfy her male hatred AND keep him humble. Maria can participate if she likes, which means...

4. Maria is in. She already can make babies, and there are no rules against baby making. Also, whether or not there were rules, they would make babies anyway. People are like that.

5. Cecil stays. At least he can donate sperm before he perishes and is buried in Chad's hydroponic garden.

Yes, the geriatric theologian dies.
a. She can't make babies
b. She would've developed old age diseases soon enough.

I've read all the posts. The very title tells me I am God. I will choose life for all. I can do whatever I want. Forget the rules. I make them up as I go. And all will be happy. Why did I let it get to this situation where there are enough supplies for 5 and yet 6 people there? Just to see who's soul was worthy and who's was not. Then I will educate the souls who were not right. According to my rules. That would mean the person who chose one or more to die had no faith in me and needs work. It is, after all, my creation and if you don't like it, don't play. I will find a place for you and it will be comfortable after I educate you a bit.

1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

All have positive skills - the Minister could perhaps learn how to teach herself by watching others, in which case the skills would become inter-meshed too.

#2 Seems like more trouble than he's worth - and the majority female over male would more or less ensure that "Maria's" issues with men would become irrelevant.

"Healthy and Verile" is not a special skill.

I've answered this without reading other replies I might add an addendum after I have read other people's views. I would save Ben, Maria, Rachel, Chad and Cecil. Brenda would be out. So we have 3 males and 2 females (sorry girls) and my reasoning is:

2, Ben: Because he is healthy, virile and does not well subscribe to authority he is most likely to force through difficult decisions. His biasness of others would help the group to see each other and itself differently throughout their (and its) experience of both Ben's opinions and of their "captivity". Life before "captivity" will be different to during and post "captivity" and a strong, healthy, virile authority questioning member would help the group to adopt an attitude required for survival. Often, authority's faults are only realized when authority is questioned. After "captivity" population rebuild will be required thus a virile and healthy male will be in good demand. Remember that most of humanity's social, civil (of civilization) and mental (and all other abstractions) evolution has been brought about through questioning of accepted norms. I also expect this character to be able to motivate others (if he has learned the skills required).

3, Maria because she is female and shown to be not lesbian. Her interest in males will re-develop as part of her human nature - in times of great stress and under threat of non-survival, people mate (often, when in life threatening situations, soldiers are documented to either find female companionship, use prostitutes or rape (both humans and animals) (It is our nature). Also, Maria will have medical knowledge that will likely be needed both during and after "captivity." She has demonstrated her resolve to learn skills and knowledge by becoming a surgeon/physician (by this I do not imply she has either great intellect or great intelligence just academic and non-academic ability).

6, Rachel. Every group and person needs both hope and breath for survival. Rachel, being knowledgeable of theology (I'm assuming no specific type) will be able to provide the group with spiritual advice and learned human wisdom when needed. As an excellent teacher she will be able to assist Ben and Maria to overcome their lacking of knowledge and experience of human nature and thus enable them to understand their individual histories with respect to the behaviors of others toward them (i.e people act the way they do because of the way others have acted toward them. Only after leaning to separate one's self from one's-self-as-altered by-others can a person learn to act for one's self without the prejudice ingrained by others. Perhaps Rachel would also (and I'm a secularist by nature) be able to balance the group's chastisement of it's members' failings by helping the group to understand and see (thus separate) the difference between behavior and experience - a person who portrays the behavior of a 40 year old yet is only 20 years old has only had time to experience 20 years of life not 40 and thus actions should be treated accordingly (generally, a twenty year old will have 10 years experience from puberty's onset and 4 years experience since puberty's end point thus will still be coming to terms with the emotions being experienced so it would not be correct to try such a person as one would a 40 year old for crimes such as adultery or attempted rape. Hopefully a theologian would see the difference). And, being female, she will likely have breeding potential.

Continued below...

Edited for grammar.

[edit on 17-2-2008 by Rapacity]

Continued from above:

1, Chad. Although possibly sterile (he may not be so the chance is 50/50 until definitively proven) is male thus will be able to provide entertainment for the females (should it be required) regardless of sterility. The fact he is educated and an engineer is of utmost importance here. Maria and Rachel (both being learned) will require intellectual stimulation and having both male and female opinion will help to broaden the scope of conversations. As an engineer, Chad will likely be able to help with engineering difficulties had during "captivity" and will be able to assist with the re-development of civilization post "captivity"

4, Cecil. May be diabetic (not necessarily genetic) but even if he does not survive the full three years he will be able to assist with chores during "captivity" Regardless of being diabetic (and I would be trying to remove this from the rebuilt stock) he will be able to produce children (assuming his pregnant wife did not visit another stable). That is to say, that even if the offspring are sickly, the longterm survival of the species is more important than short-term goals. Species survival is a numbers game - the more you have the greater the chance. Also, I think diabetes, when genetic, is recessive thus only likely to occur if the mating couple both are carriers.

5, Brenda. Pregnant. Will increase the strain on the group by diminishing resources thus this one is out. Cecil can get his comfort from one of the others. If it came to it, should Cecil insist on his wife being saved, then I'd increase the rest of the group's survival chance by saving neither Chad nor Cecil.

Guys It says you get to PLAY god not BE god!!!
you dont get to go only choose.

WHY DOES RACHEL HAVE TO BE A GIRL???? all of the others use pronouns he or she EXCEPT rachel?? just because its a girls name doesnt mean its a girl!!! dont be soo quick to assume!!

and why would ben be a problem being biased and having many BIASES towards others are different with different meanings.

if i had to put my money on it not only would he not be a problem he would be the leader and keep things in order!!

Well if Ben is so healthy and verile maybe he will make it outside. I surely dont want some idiot in the group who is an a-hole and is prob going to challenge anything that anyone else might say. Despite his health and verility everthing else about him is a liability.

My real question is why this particular decision making question is being asked by the school.

Another thing I find funny here is that it seems a majority of people seem to be wanting to not admit Rachel because of her religious beliefs and ignore the fact that she is a excellent teacher.

The only question is Chad or Ben, Ben is a jack..., but chad has a diabetic problem......but he works hard and is charitable to the group + he is married to one of the other people in the group.

........Sorry Ben

disclaimer. If this should in fact relate to any real life people, in some weird and twisted circumstance, my on line decision here is based solely on the scenario, and which in being offered is believed by this subscriber as a make believe fictional scenario and that all above mentioned choices are purely educational and I will bear no responsibility or liabilty to any real life or actual choices by anyone else to harm, maim , kill or inflict any injurious choices on another human being.

The More I think about it... Just dig a bigger hole buy a few more supplies and add a jail cell for Ben. But the question begs attention... Will Ben be the negative seed of the new world for those people... Will he continue to be that negative impact on society that leaves people uneducated and callus? Sp..? Personally Its a hard choice. I said ben had to go before... i would save all of them but if God himself told me to pick 1 that had to go... I would take it as a test and keep everyone alive... but when you do that.... like in past human history the evil seed starts to grow again... sometimes you have to weed out the weeds you know? It is something to think about. Ben you are the hard decision bro... I hope your worth this head job.

Originally posted by TheDuckster
Pick only 5, and state your reasons as to WHY these people should have a place in the shelter.

We must first recognize that 5 people won't be enough to start much of a community, or repopulate the world or anything. There isn't enough genetic diversity to keep the 3rd or 4th generation from resembling something grown out of the mountains of Appalachia. So, this is mainly for the survival of this group, and the hope of eventually migrating to a larger, more populated region.

1. Chad - Harvard Graduate. Engineering is his forte. He recently found out that he might possibly be 'sterile' - due to previous lab experiments.

Engineering expertise is absolutely necessary. If their shelter, or filtration systems or whatever g down, all the rations in the world won't save you. He's in.

2. Ben - Healthy and verile male. Yet, egotistical, and has many biases towards others because of his upbringing. Doesn't subscribe to authority very well.

Strong healthy hunting man is handy if you're out in the wild, but if you're in a shelter with supplies, not really necessary. Plus, if the guy is a douche, then what good is he. However, he may be necessary for the post shelter migration.

3. Maria - Surgeon/Physician. Her husband left her 4 yrs. ago, and she hasn't trusted the male species since then.

Surgeon is necessary. She stays without a doubt. I don't care if she was a fema-nazi skinhead who hated anyone not born in Texas, she can fix people and deliver babies. The rest is secondary.

4. Cecil - Diabetic. Has almost 3 yrs. of Insulin supply. Hardworking individual; no task is too menial.

He may need to be carried after a while. More of a drain than anything, and this is no time for pity. However, his 'menial task' abilities might make him handy, but then again, with 5 people and all the time in the world, who wouldn't be ready to do any menial task asked of them.

5. Brenda - 5 months pregnant. Candidate #4 - 'Cecil' - is her husband. Very hard working individual

Babies cry. Sometimes in such a situation, they can attract the wrong type of attention. But then again, who knows what the child can grow up to be, or what they might accomplish in this new world. And the mother is also a hard worker I hear. Well, that's just dandy! But doesn't enter into this, aside from her taking care of the child because that's where all of her focus will be placed for the first few years.

6. Rachel - Ordained Minister. Taught Theology for 25 years. Excellent teacher.

Unless everyone plans on having babies, which would lead to that two headed, freak baby problem a few gens down the line, why is there a teacher? I will admit that at such a rough time a minister would be handy. She could keep everyone's head cool, and focused on a higher power when needed.


So, the short straw goes to

Drumroll.........

We dump Cecil the diabetic guy with 3 years worth of insulin. Like I said, everyone is a hard worker when they need to be, and he doesn't bring much else to the table. He likely can't do massive amounts of physical labor and will eventually only be a burden on the group. I know it will be a shock to Brenda, but hey, everyone else she loves is dead, all the more reason to love that baby.

Of course Cecil would need to aid the group in some way before being totally outcast. By that I mean that the man better serve as a proper distraction to allow the rest of the team to scurry to the shelter.

Play god!?That's real twisted and wrong.

Play god!?That's real twisted and wrong.