What would you do if you 'knew'?

Why are so many people trying to weasel out of answering the question posed by the scenario set by the OP? The point of a thought exercise like this is to clearly define certain things about oneself. It's a method of demarcation of personal boundaries and/or ethics, and the best way to go about defining those boundaries is to remove all other variables from the equation such that your answers, when you decide on them, are clear indications of the structure of your personal psyche.
Think of it as a lab experiment, where the same principle applies. You define the areas in which you want to seek answers, then you set about constructing a controlled environment by eliminating anything that could introduce uncertainty about the meaning of your answers.

It's not hard. It's a yes or no question, and the answer tells you something useful about yourself. Stop trying to contaminate the experiment and just answer. Otherwise, don't participate in the experiment.

My answer is yes.

Originally posted by Tsurugi

My answer is yes.

Yes to what?

Yes you would intervene?

Yes you would do nothing?

Yes ________________________________?

Originally posted by JiggyPotamus
I wouldn't kill him. It doesn't matter that you would have saved so many lives, as killing him makes you no better. Taking life is taking life, the quantity is irrelevant.

We should all remember this the next time we swat flies, or kill other life, set out rat/mice traps, or anything you have ever done, or will do that involves the taking of life... Even if you're just pulling or killing weeds.

About 5 hours 42 minutes remaining...

We are nearly finished here.

Goodnight, or Good-day depending on your time zones.

One last comment for now...

Someone asked, So I'll answer here adding to the hypothetical, the flight is an unlisted charter.

Good luck.

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade

Originally posted by Tsurugi

My answer is yes.

Yes to what?

Yes you would intervene?

Yes you would do nothing?

Yes ________________________________?

Hahaha. Yes I would intervene. Sorry, I thought that would be clear.

reply to post by Fractured.Facade


if you had these visions they would obviously have been given to you for a reason no. otherwise more would be capable of such things. do the right thing, get off the fence and sort the problem out and prove to yourself you were deserving of this gift/curse. i can't understand why you would even question such a decision.

Interesting read, looks like time is up just about now.

i wonder how the collective swayed?????

It is really interesting to read the posts of folks who say they NEVER would kill.

There is as much wrong with that answer as an answer from someone who would happily kill anything and anyone at any time.

Someone who can say without qualification that they would NEVER kill, has never been presented with the situation. I doubt they have ever been a parent or even married.

My ex-wifes first husband always wanted to kill somebody. And he did.

I on the other hand didn't know if I could until I was presented with the situation where I might have to, to protect my life or another life. Luckily, because I don't really want to do it, they threw down their weapon, or threw up their hands, or stopped shooting at us while I was pulling on the trigger. I don't want to ever have to kill someone but have little doubt that I could if forced.

If you have ever had a child injured by someone or someone's stupidity, if you have never had to fight someone else for a gun, if you don't know what it is like to fight for your life, I hope you know how to react to those situations when they come because life is becoming more and more fragile and of lesser value to a whole lots of folk.

If I knew a child murderer or a mass murderer like Hitler before-hand would I try to get him. Somehow, someway, YEP!

I wonder about your humanity if you cannot answer that question, YES!

reply to post by Fractured.Facade


You are a squirrel-head.

When you pull up weeds. Cheesh! What a kook!

I would consider that the 'fact' that I 'knew' meant that the outcome was inevitable and would therefore do nothing except prepare to save self and family and friends IF possible.

If you 'know' something then it is already too late.

Those who 'know' things in life, stay in the shadows, out of the way, do not live the mainstream life of others and are far wiser than can be imagined.

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
reply to post by Agarta

 

Until after that time has passed, I'll withhold my personal decision/choice... Even though it is irrelevant, and unnecessary.. You'll have it... Then.

Keeping my word here...

For me the "only solution" was never an option.... It is one thing to be shown future events where you can intervene and NO ONE gets hurt... Entirely different when you are forced to choose between committing an unthinkable act or allowing an unimaginable event to take place. There is no path to redemption, or absolution in this. No way out. No right answer... No correct choice. Therefore it was never going to be a decision I could make. One way or the other.

But, as I said, it was never my decision to make.

So, what really happened here?

Maybe the villain is safely out of U.S. airspace now with his hand picked team of microbiologists and are now well on their way ultimately to a very secure corporate owned and fully funded foreign lab?

I suppose there is always the option of looking to a higher power to intervene where we did not.

Maybe divine intervention will succeed where we have failed.

Maybe that was the ultimate test.

Thank you all for an amazing thread.


-The End-

So I guess we all better hope and pray this was only a hypothetical, because if it was real the chosen party did not have the cahones to take action.

Let me just repeat a couple of my previous posts. Refusing to act is Depraved Indifference and Culpable Negligence, but unlucky for you, I'm not the type that would call the police.

Although this thread was interesting and enlightening, I have to say I am not amused that someone may have just shirked their responsibility and endangered all the rest of us. Without saying anything to get myself into trouble, I will just link back to my two previous posts. God help the person that endangers my family either by intentional action or inaction when they had a conscious choice to do the right thing and didn't.

First Post

Second Post

Here's to hoping this was all just a mental exercise and nothing more.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Always someone dissatisfied with the ending. There was an alternate, but it has been deleted.

How this ended wasn't up to me.. remember it was up to YOU.

All of you.

reply to post by Fractured.Facade


Wasn't up to "me," you left it up to the collective, and we all know the collective is typically WRONG! Stock Market analysts always warn against following the crowd. Crime analysts report that a group of people is much less likely to intervene than a single person. "Group think" often results in mediocre or poor results.

Even juries are often swayed by one or two strong personalities despite the proof. The group rarely reaches a fact-based decision on its own.

Every group needs a decisive leader, or the group will fail.

Your experiment failed, because you refused to lead the group.

As long as this was a hypothetical brain stretch, then the failure is instructional, but if this were a real-life scenario, failure would not have been an option, and you should have handed the reigns over to someone that would ACT!

reply to post by getreadyalready


Put a group together in a room and suddenly the collective intelligence equals that of the individual with the smallest shoe size.

reply to post by getreadyalready


That is all true... But in this case and the burden of choice placed on one person was too great, the "collective consciousness" was the only real option.... Being a leader, in this case would have meant leading people to a solution, removing the freedom to freely choose, so it would have been useless.

If you set out to take the position to lead people to a predetermined solution, then you have already made a choice.

It is what it is, we have no "do-overs" here, or alternate endings.

Interesting post by the way.

I thought that was a cool experiment. And I don't think we failed. I was one of the ones that would not have killed him. What surprises the heck out of me is how upset people get over a hypothetical situation, sheesh. The only for sure thing we knew in this experiment was that it was hypothetical..if people get unglued over that..darn good thing they don't really have the power to act (not talking about OP). People always ready to jump the gun and kill for any reason..even hypothetical ones. Very interesting experiment, thanks for letting me participate

reply to post by LunaKat

The only for sure thing we knew in this experiment was that it was hypothetical

Where did you get the idea that it was certainly a hypothetical?

The OP never said that. In fact, the only reason anyone is even assuming it wash hypothetical is because it is too horrible to think it might be real.

We all hope it is a hypothetical.

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade
reply to post by cry93

 

Excellent points... But I can assure you that my state of mind here is well, and there is no worries in that regard.. This discussion isn't about me, in any way... It is all, after all, theoretical.

A tough one, for anyone who would choose to openly deal with such dilemmas... You are free to assume whatever you want about me in this context, even the worst, or that it is all real... Or that I am some lunatic, But I want to make one thing very clear... This thread is NOT about me, in any way shape or form.

Excuse me fractured facade said it was all theoretical (not hypothetical) close enough.

If I had thought for one minute that this was for real..I would not be responding on a forum or taking part..I would be reporting it to the authorities. But Fractured Facade was just coming up with a situation to challenge us with, thats all.