You know what? I stopped your video right after you said, "The hostage-taker says, 'okay, one of you has to kill the other'". I would say, "Okay", punched the old guy and then snapped his neck. Then I'd say, "Alright, now what? Anything I want, right?" Simple as that.
Besides all of that, you said I can have anything I want, yet I've been kidnapped. How can I have anything I want when I can't even have freedom? That's a straight contradiction. I would have wanted freedom with $10 million.
For the situation described in your video, easy. I would shoot the man. But I have a weird sense of life and death. Now, what I would die for, that would be my own children, or really, any child. People may call me heartless for shooting the other man, but it's not really a matter of valuing my on life over his. If the situation were reversed and I was the elderly person, I would shoot myself. The key lies in who has yet to live their life. To rob a youth of life, to me, is the larger tragedy.
For the hypothetical I'd kill the old man ( my life comes first every one else second ) but hears a thought what would u live for???? Death is the olny certainty of life.. So dieing for sumthing will probably happen We are all mortal and when it comes time why not die for sumthing you believe in... That's what terrorists do... So I would rather live for freedom and equality than th die for them
I would kill the seventy year old. The seventy year old will probably die a painful death within fifteen years, and I would probably have forty to fifty five years left before I die a painful death. Why should I die, to save somebody else who could be relived of an imminent painful death if shot.
I would die for nothing and I WILL die for it indeed. On the other hand I would be willing to risk my life at very low odds for many things or should I say people? Dying for something not living is not logical.
In a hostage situation described I'd let the old man kill me, his family would mourn and miss him. It's much easier to make a new baby and let it grow to 30 than to make a grandpa.:-)
What would I die for......I would die for one single principle. That another will benefit from my death(through my actions, not simply as a means to their end)
I would, as I stated as a comment on the follow up to this vid, force the other to concede on my willingness to die for the greater good. Because once this level of awareness is reached by all parties involved, the choice is simple. Unless of coarse ego crept in and they WANTED above all else to be the one who will die for that greater good.Then I would leave it to who will do the greater good if they live. Since, of caorse, we have both faced our mortality.
I will choose to live, unless killing the old man will cost unnecessary deaths among many people, obviously he is a 70 year old man who has lived a long life and experienced a lot, myself on the other hand has plenty to learn and plenty to experience and I wouldnt sacrifice my young life for pitty, not everyone is martyr. In the end its in our nature to survive just keeping it real
...depends upon whether or not I have a family to protect, whether the older man has the same, and a few other factors. If I have no family, I talk with the old man candidly about our options, and offer to shoot myself if indeed he does have a family to consider.
If neither of us has considerations to keep in mind other than our own lives, I'd ask if he'd agree to coin toss/Russian roulette.
If he's an irrational, reactionary animal about it I'll just kill him and get on with my own life.
I would plead my case to the 70 year man, on that he has had 40 years more of living than I, and that I deserve to live as long as that. If I was still alive at 70 I'd kill myself on the day I was taken hostage, just to pay homage to the man that I was forced to take the life of exactly 40 years ago.
How is it strange for someone to not be willing to die for anything? As much as we see ourselves as highly intelligent, logical creatures, it's hard being "rational" to the point of ending your very existence for a greater good. And honestly, I don't like it very much when people talk about the noble actions they WOULD do.. Because I highly doubt they would. We're animals, afterall. Survival is survival.
Talk to the old guy, offer to voluntarily die, offer to choose randomly, or offer to help in an attack on the kidnapper.
I will never have kids, because I have a medical condition that is genetically linked. I'm not married, and probably never will be because I don't want someone feeling they're obligated to take care of me if/when my condition worsens.
My sense of humour can be rather morbid, so I'll close with: "If my autoimmune disease kills me, is that involuntary suicide?"
It seems to me that perhaps suicide could be the best action...or convincing the old man to kill himself. If another's life depended on my death, I would feel that suicide is a moral action. But if the old man is willing to do it, I would say go for it. That is my initial response without much thinking about it.
kill the kidnapper...duh..or die trying.and would die for my kids or the greater good, another duh....but no promisses either way on the out come...all on chance, if you even can trust the the kidnapper,and the greater good does not mean the higher class,or wealthy,or someone who thinks they deserve to live better than the next person..most likely be the one to go who thinks that in my eyes :P
1 Life is not worth as much to me as the lives of my whole family - especially when he has just like 10 natural years ahead of him while my family has more than 300 years (everyone's years put together) to go.
* he isn't willing to die for anything right now. If he could not do the things that give him this viewpoint any longer, he would probably be willing to die for the right to do them again.
We are all survivors; we're genetically hard-wired for it. So the first answer is that I'd kill him.
Now it is always possible to structure these questions to obtain any answer. i.e. I am worthless, he is a world-class virologist on the cusp of finding a cure for AIDS or cancer.
But if we're fine tuning the circumstances I might as well be the virologist.
I'd look around, there's always a trap door, then I'd use the gravity gun to pull the sink from the wall then BLAM, kidnapper is no more. Always look under the tables though for headcrabs, especially those long legged spidery ones, they're scary.
All joking aside though, I like to think that I'm not a blubbing coward, but I am and I've kids so that can be my excuse, so I'd kill the old man. Do I win a prize?
I'd tell the old guy to kill me. I've always been willing to put myself in harm's way to help a stranger. I'm willing to risk my life for a lot of things, but I haven't found anything worth living for yet, if that makes sense. I'm not suicidal, but I also don't care too much about staying alive. I'm just kinda indifferent to the whole thing.
@ArsenicCigarettes : lol, we're all fucking worthless man, I have a job to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly. Born and bred in poverty and clawed my fucking way out 4chan. I'm entitled you shit eating upper class motherfucker. Fucking hand me down from mommy and daddy bitch. You got your attention 4chan. Piss off.
Have the old man shoot me in the head. I don't have much reason to exist. The number of people that would notice or care I can count on my hands. I don't have any outstanding prodigy like talents. Death is inevitable, be it forty years from now, or today. Besides, a kidnapper crazy enough to ask such a thing would probably kill us both anyway and then violate our corpses. Sweet dreams.
@RadarKat73080 Problem: you can't save anyone's lives by sacrificing yours. You can hope you will, you can wish it'd happen, but you have no control over the future. All you have is probabilities, but even they are unreliable because you don't know all relevant factors to a certain outcome. All you have, in the end, is imagination/belief. Reality works like this: "Guy does a, b and c under condition s, therefore d happens". Imagination: Guy says "I'm gonna do d". Doesn't work like that.
Reality isn't such a linear course of events. If these "people/person" has information on who your family is and where they are, then the best option is to try to neutralize them. Even if you sacrifice yourself or the other person. Your families could still die or be put in the same game OR most likely they will go on to do it to others. Who are you protecting by giving into their demands?
Reality isn't such a linear course of events. If these "people/person" has information on who your family is and where they are, then the best option is to try to neutralize them. Even if you sacrifice yourself or the other person. Your families could still die or be put in the same game OR most likely they will go on to do it to others. Who are you protecting by giving into their demands?
I don't believe in giving into the demands of an obvious psycho. I would try to get the other person to join me and fight the piece of shit. I would not harm the other person nor allow them to harm me, within my power. If we fail. We fail and die with dignity. Why would we roll over and give into someone trying to force a moral dilemma on us. That is giving them control over my actions. I have a responsibility to myself and my loved ones to act with integrity. There aren't only the three choices
If I insisted on myself, and she insisted on herself, I'd flip a coin. I would think it disrespectful not to consider my wife's desire for me to live.
BS Answer: Well, i can have anything I want, so I *want* to be fishing on Lake Michigan with no further responsibility in that scenario.
Real Answer: The old man dies. He's older, he's lived a life and had his experiences and doesn't have many more years left to him by comparison, given a reality that assumes the younger man will continue on to live his years unfettered. It's fairly simple logistics that need not go beyond that and were I the old man, I think my answer would be the same.
i plan on doing a video response, just not tonight, so i thought i would lay out my basic answer here and then explain it later in a video. basically, i would evaluate the situation, based on who had the larger family, as well as how much that family relied on the two of us, as well as which family is larger, and would loose more from loosing one of us. based on those factors, i would make my decision to either kill or be killed. basically, neither, without more information.
I think those that are not willing to die for anything only feel that way because they dont have anything of value taken away from them. If you were to ask a woman in the middle east who get gets the same rights we have here as pets, then Im sure she'll figure out a few things to die for instantly.
It's a trick question. You have to look at it from the old man's point of view. At 70, he should be volunteering to be the one to die based on the fact that he has experienced life and will in all likelihood die long before you anyway. And if he doesn't pipe up and volunteer, then he's a selfish man and you can be justified in acting the same way and killing him.
Call me what you like, but I would kill the old man. I hate to admit it, and I'd probably hate myself for it, but I would. I can't honestly say to myself that I wouldn't, and there would be no reason behind it other than to prolong my own life.
I think I would die for my loved ones if I thought it would directly ensure their lives were prolonged. If this situation were presented to me and one of my loved ones or good friends replaced the old man, I would gladly lay my life down.
my answers; I would say I would kill the man just to try to take one of the hostages down with me (assuming i would get control of the gun) Once death is determined it a matter of taking as many people down with me that deserve it.
I would die/risk my life for any complete stranger. It would be a good way to die, and I know whomever I save would remember me the rest of their life. Immortality thru death.
@Kishandreth Did you just kill the stranger , and claim you were saving him? Did you, by killing this man, actually allow your mind to see yourself on the news as a hero? That is a movie, not a life.
Psh, I'd rather live for something. I don't really care about anyone but not in a spiteful sense. I just think I may be at least somewhat sociopathic and its gone undiagnosed, so I'd kill whoever the hell else was in the room with me, not that I'm overly fond of myself but hey, I'm all I've got. I suppose I'm not very typical.
You didn't specify if the kidnapper had accomplices, so I will assume that he is alone. What a fool for handing us a loaded gun. Result: Dead kidnapper.
In your scenario I would certainly kill the old man. Neither of us has more inherent worth than the other, so there's no good reason to choose his continued existence over my own.
In general, I can't think of any good reason to die for anyone. In practice however, I know that there are certain situations where I would be emotionally driven to sacrifice myself, but I don't think I could logically defend the decision.
solely considering the age of the other man. I would probably kill him. Because if I am a man in my 30's ( which is pretty close to my actual age) I probably haven't experienced as much in life as he has. Also at that age a person is more likely to ( in my case) hypothetically have young children completely dependent upon him for food and shelter, he (I) is also a greater asset to the economic structures considering that most people in their seventieths are retired and receive pension
As of now I have nothing in my life worth dying for, but I've been in love before and actually thought about this at the time, so if I ever find someone else in the future I would most certainly think that I would die for them.
However given the situation that you proposed, I think there is more to think about. Like is living actually the more desired outcome? To some people killing their loved one may be so distressing that they may commit suicide themselves or live with the guilt etc.
I have nothing worth dieing form, and I don't perceive other human beings worth very well. I don't think I'm going to answer the first question because of this.
I love these dilemmas, as they give well defined consequences. They're intended not to give wiggle room or alternate scenarios. An alternate scenario may be, "I turn the gun on my captors", but thats not the point of the exercise.
Consequences. Do you make choices based on consequences implemented by a non negotiating world. What meridianfrost suggests is a zero sum game.
Guaranteed results in the example, yes, I shoot the 70 year old. Selfish, yes. But so is this example world.
@angryislander56 I didn't think alliances were an option - but maybe that's my willingness to accept rules (and authority?) talking. Good for you, L - fight! Fight! FIGHT!
What would I do if the Kidnappers gave me that choice, I would lay down and play dead, tell the old man to say he killed me and jump the kidnappers. I would rather die fighting for my freedom then have to live with the blood of an innocent person on my hands. as for what would I die for besides my child not much.
I'd like to think I'd die for the old man. How it would turn out in reality I'm sure depends on details - the sense of danger, my impression of the old man, and things that are hard to think of unless it's really real.
If I though I was going to heaven, it wouldn't even be a challenge, though. It wouldn't really be a sacrifice either, then.
@argo984 I would shoot him in the nuts first; ask him how it felt, then i would kick him in the ear. after watching him roll around in pain: I would know that there is only one moral option: euthanasia! After putting the old man out of his misery, I would hold my head high and know that I made Mills proud.
i think a most people would die for someone else, even someone they do not know as most would try and save another from harm. they would not think if i save this person i might/would die, just i have to save this person
we hear on the news all the time people say 'any one would do the same' when they have put themselves in danger and sitting watching tv we would think 'no i would not' only as we have had the time to think that, split second actions are through instinct not thought
This makes no sense what so ever. That there are some people that sacrifices themselves for people they dont know, is a fluke, its an abnormality.. We are hardwired to survive and protect our offspring. Walking out killiing ourselves to protect a person who is potential competition in the struggle to survive. The fact that he might kill your children just makes it a sure thing, anyone who wouldnt do anything to save their own children is messed up, even in this scenario..
@Ivpiv the idea that people would help another can not be a abnormality in the general veaw of things or we would not have the army, police or firemen, these people may do the jobs just for the money but most do them for the betterment of everybody even though their loved ones could suffer for it, and even going through the fear of that loved one not coming home when in reality they are safe at work
@333derick333 I think that only counts if you're part of the scene that's happening. Evidence and history show that people sitting at home, or walking by, will, in most cases, ignore someone being hurt. That is why people are taught to yell "fire" and not "help" when they're being hurt.
People have a fight or flight reflex, but sadly, that fight part is (mostly) only when you are directly involved. Maybe 15-20% would jump in and help in the above scenario.
Hypotheticals! yeah! of course I would kill the old man. I'm not gonna be a hypocrite, he has had a long life, I'm just begining to enjoy it. There is only one life so why I would sacrifice my precious little life for someone that is already in the verge of dying anyway. Fuck that. I rather be the bad guy.
Well, on the up-side...after the 70 year old guy's funeral, I'll be able to apologize to his family for killing him.
As for what I would die for...well, that's a rather long list...as for "who" I would die for, well, that's a rather short list. It's sad...anything I would die for would be something for me to experience.
First and foremost, I would try to talk it over with the man. Not manipulate him, but see how he feels. But if he wasn't having it, I'd probably let him shoot me, as I would rather my friends and family remember me as a victim than as someone who murdered a 70 year old man because someone told me to.
I can't help but feel like this is a much easier question for 70-year old men to answer.
What I would die for depends on the situation, mainly how much happiness would result from it.
Well, I'm gonna die eventually anyway and I'm not going to my grave with the deliberate death by my hand of an innocent old man on my conscience. If I could, I'd do my best to leave with some of my enemies to keep me company on that last trip down the dark tunnel to goodbye.
Before I joined the Army National Guard, I asked myself for whom would I die. I made my decision and took my vow. : )
@phenixwryter Judge? I wasn't judging anything YOU were judging by saying he was innocent which is unverified. I was simply stating that it was unverified. and you come back with a snarky reply? Does he deserve to die? that's unknowable since its a hypothetical and no history was given. Would i kill him to prolong my own existence? Well lets examine that. I have a family a wife and children whom its my responsibility to take care of, i am young and healthy while he is aged and maybe has -
@phenixwryter 10 years left, If it came down to me killing a man whom i know nothing about so that i may continue to provide for my family and live my life(which is far longer then his). yes i would kill him but whether he "deserves" it or not is irrelevant in this situation.
I hate to say it But I would shoot the old guy. Even if it wasn't an old man and was someone young, male or female, I would still shoot them to save my own skin. If I was the 70 year old though I would consider shooting myself.
Only thing in this world I would die for is my kids and maybe to save my best friend.
ew at these logical responses. fuck logic. nobody forces me to do anything. nobody. how about this, I'm a genius with unbreakable bones and a voice that can make brains explode. I win.
I think it's prety unfair to make that kind of situation since, I would act much differently in bit different one. Logically the old man should be one to die. But if there would be another person instead of that old one, person who is healthy as I'm and old as I'm... Suicide would be my option then. Not doing anything would be same as killing both.
So kill the old man and create (you said I can create anything) machine which allows me to revive him :D
Very few things i can imagine myself dying for. I'd have to be convinced something is more worthy than myself and will outlast me. For example i would not sacrifice my life to save 5 people if they will likely only live one more day.
The kidnap experiment was used in The Dark Knight, no brainer for me.
I am not sure if I am answering in the confines of your question: but I would use the room to try and fight/destroy my/our kidnappers, as I generally do not conform to ultimatums.
And I suppose contrary to my “room answer”, I would intentionally die for immediate family and friends only.
I'm a coward so I would ask if it was ok for this senerio to happen.
I would ask the old man to take the gun if he promiced to save my family and he could either shoot me or himself, his choice with no recriminations
Then I would fall to the floor with my hands over my head and say 'shoot, shoot ' and hope I hear his body hit the floor and I don't die of a heart attack when the gun went off
But with my luck the wife would be pissed the old man wouldn't shoot and shoot me, such is life
This reminds me of the Donner Party but without the cannibalism. If he had the cure for cancer or aids I would probably let him shoot me to get out. But assuming we know nothing about each other if I was the younger person I would most likely do it with regret. Especially if I had kids. I wouldn't want to leave them without a parent.
It is clear that one of us would have to kill the other to save both our families. So for me there are only two options: kill him or let him kill me. I would probably kill him, but I am pretty sure that I would be fucked up after this.
Join forces with the old man and fight our way to freedom, because why would they let one of us live just for killing the other? Obviously a compliant plaything is fun enough for a second round of bullshit (not to mention worth keeping as a pet).
As far as dying for something i suppose i would risk my life to save another innocent life. Perhaps i am flattering myself however and would simply do the cowardly thing and try to survive at all cost. Its hard to say for sure, living so comfortably,
You haven't discovered anything new. If you shoot the old guy, that's a way of self-preservation, for 3,5 billions of years living beings have been doing that, evolution works on it. On the other hand, if you had chosen to shoot yourself, so that the old man can live, you would have been following the strong sense of altruism, built in us as social beings by evolution.
Well if the kidnappers are dumb enough to give both their hostages guns, I guess me and the old guy shoot our way out or die trying. I don't do well with ultimata, I tend to always find option C, where C is the thing most likely to piss off the person forcing the choice on me... ;)
I would talk to the old man and tell him next time the man came in I would attempt to take him out, and that I hoped he would do his best to help me. In your question you did not mention who we were kept in the room nor how the 70 year old would kill the 30 if that was the case I think your question has to many options. But to answer you I would not kill someone becasue someone threatened or my familie unless the person who I was killing was the person who threatened me. Peace
ho,hum"The Saw", I'd do what ever it took to live, the old man dies before the little puppet on the tricycle finishes the sentence, BLAM BLAM BLAM! (I'd be angry at the kidnappers for forcing me to kill him or me).
I know my reasons for why I would want to live on, and I would express those reasons to him.
If I felt he could convince me that he BLAM! (he shot me)
haha, no really, I would like it to come down to a debate between the 70 year old and I.
If I really felt he had more to contribute to the world with his remaining years than I did, I'd let him take me out, though if by the end of the debate/discussion, I felt my reasons superseded, I would kill him.
Man, I really don't like dillemas like that. First reason is, of course, that its a dichotomy. In the real world, you always have more choices than two equally fucked up ones. Second of all, the entire moral responsibiliy for whatever happens in the room falls on the kidnapper, not on the victims. Whatever you do, you cant be considered guilty. For me its like wondering what will happen if a two headed calf has sex with a two assed zebra. It may be mildly interesting, but hardly relevant.
I do not like questions like that. What people say that they will do and how they really act in a life and death moment are not that closely related. Most people would say that they would be cool in an emergency. A lot of people who are really smart will over think it and just freeze .Even if you say you would die for someone, you would push them under when your are drowning. Who you are in a situation depends on experience in that area, not your moral philosophy.
Perhaps your old physics teacher is older than you - that he does not see "what will you die for?" as a vital question any more - as he is not forming his world view - he has it.
shoot the hostage taker!... wait, we can't break the rules can we? then sit there in stupid optimism that something will happen to change the situation? no?... okay, then all i can say is i don't think anyone could truly know the answer to that question until put in that situation, the chemicals and emotions that come into play during such situations can change a person entirely, you can speculate sure, but it's naive almost to think you can really accurately predict your actions
I wouldn't trust any kidnappers making such an offer. I'd assume that after watching their sick little show the bastards would most likely kill the victor anyway. Therefor, I'd simply refuse to play the game. I'd certainly defend myself if the other participant couldn't be brought to see the situation from my perspective, but I would still refuse to kill him. Non-aggression against my fellow man is a value I'm more than willing to die for.
It seems implied, but not entirely clear, that you'd be the one to take the bullet in that hypothetical situation. Is that correct? That you would trade your life for the life of one other person?
i'd save my ass. give me a loaded gun and im gettin out of there. question is: is the gun fully loaded or will i have to play their game because theres only one in the chamber?
Id wait and see, most likely we would both die. Not because I didnt want to live, not because I am kind or thoughtful, but because I am a giant pussy who could never pull the trigger on somebody :(
Ask him if he could kill a man in cold blood. If he answers yes. Kill him before he kills you. If he answers no, kill him, because i'm not committing suicide, and it's probably better then a fight to the death, and he could be lying.
dieing is the easy part of life, everything does it at least once, the how and why is rather trivial, like everything else is on the big cosmic scale. so the question is: would you be just as willing to kill the old man as the old man might be just as willing to kill you?' people might say they could murder the old man, but one will never know until they actually commit the act. pondering someone else's mortality it a lot different than pondering your own. (shrugs)
One of the interesting things about this question is that it highlights the fact that living is a biological imperative. When you ask a question to the organism: "What would you die for"? you immerse the biologically conditioned mechanism into the imaginative realm.
The whole thing is a cheap trick, of course. Everything's going to die.
@threeofwands And I would expand a bit on this by saying that the imaginary realm is where religion, art, and creativity have a nexus. Now this is a problem when the *Church* becomes an institution. But those who want to see a lively debate about it should check out DasAmericanAtheits's channel at the moment.
I would die for 2 things. One is obviously for those I love the most. Cliche, yes, but it's true regardless. If and when I marry, and if and when I have children, I would obviously lose my life to ensure they keep living. The other would be for humanity. If my death would help teach people to live in peace, to realize that we all live on the same planet, and that learning to rely on one another rather than fight, well, it's a death I'd be glad to take.
Everybody has a level of self-interest, and most people feel very strongly for their family - more so than they do for a stranger or a stranger's family. I would feel guilty later, but my desire to live and the desire to protect my family would force my hand in killing a stranger and his family. I wouldn't die for anything intentionally -- there would always be the plan that I could live and achieve the goal I had in mind. Dying would be due to risk, not actual intent.
whatever .... I want... u mean like 1 choice, endless? Be god? Be perfect? Be Truth? Be Heaven? lol
I don't know what I would die for because dying isn't a choice :) logically speaking...and am thankful for that............But I would die for "dieing" to not be a choice ... but if LIFE manifested itself like that .... then no life could ever exist in the first place ;)
so it's really an impossible question, but to banter with you...It's 50:50 to die for the guy if it's "satan" fuk him :)
You're both going to die eventually anyway. By not taking the bullet you only postpone the inevitable. Even if you lived to be some historically awesome person who did great things for humanity, it's only valid as long as humanity is around. I guess I look at it this way....the sun will eventually use up its fuel and then all of this will be over; although humanity will likely be long extinct before then. The Universe just keeps on moving like it did before we we got here.
Dying for a cause sound so noble - but it really rarely is. Its very seldom that dying for something actually acomplishes something more than you could have acomplished by living to "fight another day" and pursue that same goal.
Given that there absolutely aren't ANY other possible outcomes (ie. a pure theoretical situation) then I'd kill the other prisoner. Not because he is older, or I'm more important or anything, but simply because if one HAS to die anyway then I value me more than others.
@TheStigma Its just simply a pragmatic thing to do. I don't see what you would prove to anyone by either steadfastly refusing to kill and thus discarding bth lives - or by "nobly" sacrificing your own life to save the other guy. unless that person had the (as of yet unpublished) cure to cancer in his noggin or something like that then I just don't see why that would be any better. Being kind if good - but I don't think suicidal-level altruism nessecarily is...
There's nothing I can say that I want to die FOR, because death is a waste of the abilities you possess in life. But there is one thing I would like in death. When I die, I want to die knowing that I made a difference in someone's life. Die knowing that I made some sort of a difference, no matter how miniscule, no matter how seemingly pointless to anyone else. I want to die with dignity.
So no, there isn't anything I want to die FOR, but there is everything I want to die WITH.
Ignoring the premise (I would kill as many of the captors as possible,assuming they are going to kill us both anyway) forced to make the choice, I would choose my life over his. But if I were he, I would also insist that the younger man live (as many have done in real situations). But such stark dilemmas are rare in real life.
I would want them to die knowing that their hope and dreams would come true, because this is a situation based on potential. I have the ability to do what he or she could not, because their days would end anyway in the alternative situation.
It's better to make use of one life that can fulfill both of them, than to lose them both in vain.
As a nihilist with no kids or anyone else who depends on me...I guess I'd take the bullet. Don't get me wrong I'm enjoying this ride called life, the good and bad, but in the end none of this will matter. Whether I die of natural causes at 101 or take a bullet to the head in my 30's, dead is dead. It's not like you'll have regrets of all the things you could have done after death anyway. Plus, I would be haunted every day of the remainder of my life by killing the other person to save myself.
My answer may seem morbid and insensitive but i beg of you hear me out. One of us WILL die no matter what, so the choice is really between if you want one person, or both of you to die.
Firstly, I would be to talk with the older person. See what they've accomplished in their life, and what they still want to accomplish.
However, I would choose to kill them--but that death would not be in vain. I would make sure I'd accomplish what they had wanted to, but no longer had the ability to.
i would tell the guy lets die trying to escape...I got your back, you got mine.
BTW, I would die for a pint of hagen daz ice cream. On a serious note, I would like to think I would trade my life for another. Although I don't like most people so it would have to be a total stranger. ; )
side note: don't take life to seriously. jut enjoy the ride.
Okay I've listened to the questions a few times and I'm going to think it is like, you are aloud to wish for one item, status, anything like that but after that wish you have to die or kill the other man or both die. I would probably wish for protection for my family and possibly kill the old man even though since they held me hostage they would probably still kill me and still possibly my family so I would want to die giving my wish to keep my family alive even at the cost of the other man life
..then obviously option 1 is superior. But realistically, it's more complex; can you fight back? What's your chance of success? If you kill your cell mate, will you be let free or killed as well? What are their motives? Can they be reasoned with? etc etc.
Interesting scenario - well presented to by the way. Dying to hear your answer to it :D As for me - I cannot kill another, so, be that right or wrong in this case, I will not kill the older man, or myself. There are certain times when doing a greater evil brings no good outcome. If the kidnappers will kill - as much as I hate that outcome, I won't join in the killing either way.
You know what? I stopped your video right after you said, "The hostage-taker says, 'okay, one of you has to kill the other'". I would say, "Okay", punched the old guy and then snapped his neck. Then I'd say, "Alright, now what? Anything I want, right?" Simple as that.
Besides all of that, you said I can have anything I want, yet I've been kidnapped. How can I have anything I want when I can't even have freedom? That's a straight contradiction. I would have wanted freedom with $10 million.
dragonhearted375 1 month ago
For the situation described in your video, easy. I would shoot the man. But I have a weird sense of life and death. Now, what I would die for, that would be my own children, or really, any child. People may call me heartless for shooting the other man, but it's not really a matter of valuing my on life over his. If the situation were reversed and I was the elderly person, I would shoot myself. The key lies in who has yet to live their life. To rob a youth of life, to me, is the larger tragedy.
AvalonDraconis 1 month ago
I'm not dieing for anything, I'll find a way to make it work
catseye10000 1 month ago
For the hypothetical I'd kill the old man ( my life comes first every one else second ) but hears a thought what would u live for???? Death is the olny certainty of life.. So dieing for sumthing will probably happen We are all mortal and when it comes time why not die for sumthing you believe in... That's what terrorists do... So I would rather live for freedom and equality than th die for them
MrBjrellul 3 months ago
I would reserve judgment because I wouldn't know that it'd be better for my family to be sacrificed. It'd be up to the other person.
I would die for any friend immediately threatened with death.
VarmitCoyote 4 months ago in playlist More videos from meridianfrost
I would kill the seventy year old. The seventy year old will probably die a painful death within fifteen years, and I would probably have forty to fifty five years left before I die a painful death. Why should I die, to save somebody else who could be relived of an imminent painful death if shot.
Killur10 7 months ago
I would die for nothing and I WILL die for it indeed. On the other hand I would be willing to risk my life at very low odds for many things or should I say people? Dying for something not living is not logical.
In a hostage situation described I'd let the old man kill me, his family would mourn and miss him. It's much easier to make a new baby and let it grow to 30 than to make a grandpa.:-)
langlangcech 7 months ago
What would I die for......I would die for one single principle. That another will benefit from my death(through my actions, not simply as a means to their end)
thinkbyproxy 8 months ago
I would, as I stated as a comment on the follow up to this vid, force the other to concede on my willingness to die for the greater good. Because once this level of awareness is reached by all parties involved, the choice is simple. Unless of coarse ego crept in and they WANTED above all else to be the one who will die for that greater good.Then I would leave it to who will do the greater good if they live. Since, of caorse, we have both faced our mortality.
thinkbyproxy 8 months ago
I will choose to live, unless killing the old man will cost unnecessary deaths among many people, obviously he is a 70 year old man who has lived a long life and experienced a lot, myself on the other hand has plenty to learn and plenty to experience and I wouldnt sacrifice my young life for pitty, not everyone is martyr. In the end its in our nature to survive just keeping it real
smckafixofurfaith 9 months ago
Comment removed
YeahSunshine 11 months ago
...depends upon whether or not I have a family to protect, whether the older man has the same, and a few other factors. If I have no family, I talk with the old man candidly about our options, and offer to shoot myself if indeed he does have a family to consider.
If neither of us has considerations to keep in mind other than our own lives, I'd ask if he'd agree to coin toss/Russian roulette.
If he's an irrational, reactionary animal about it I'll just kill him and get on with my own life.
CalypsoCatnip 1 year ago
I would die for my family
Christheatheist1 1 year ago
I would die for my family. I would probably die for my friends too.
Christheatheist1 1 year ago
I'd say I kill him, then take the gun and shoot the kidnappers
FierceRodents 1 year ago
lolz you haz wifi in nose?
iXecFTW 1 year ago
I would plead my case to the 70 year man, on that he has had 40 years more of living than I, and that I deserve to live as long as that. If I was still alive at 70 I'd kill myself on the day I was taken hostage, just to pay homage to the man that I was forced to take the life of exactly 40 years ago.
NateTube 1 year ago
How is it strange for someone to not be willing to die for anything? As much as we see ourselves as highly intelligent, logical creatures, it's hard being "rational" to the point of ending your very existence for a greater good. And honestly, I don't like it very much when people talk about the noble actions they WOULD do.. Because I highly doubt they would. We're animals, afterall. Survival is survival.
SaraCufer 1 year ago 5
Talk to the old guy, offer to voluntarily die, offer to choose randomly, or offer to help in an attack on the kidnapper.
I will never have kids, because I have a medical condition that is genetically linked. I'm not married, and probably never will be because I don't want someone feeling they're obligated to take care of me if/when my condition worsens.
My sense of humour can be rather morbid, so I'll close with: "If my autoimmune disease kills me, is that involuntary suicide?"
Keovar 1 year ago
It seems to me that perhaps suicide could be the best action...or convincing the old man to kill himself. If another's life depended on my death, I would feel that suicide is a moral action. But if the old man is willing to do it, I would say go for it. That is my initial response without much thinking about it.
Manifestatheist 1 year ago
id let the old person kill me.
3mangafan 1 year ago
I'd kill him. I'm generally misanthropic, especially toward the elderly.
rafaravioli 1 year ago
for me the awnser is pretty simple, I would refuse to kill the old man.
all you have is their "word" for not killing the other plus family anyway.
a non issue
painterQjensen 1 year ago
even someone to think up this idea...have to ask if your mind is right to even come up with this kinda crap..:O
chucka59 1 year ago
kill the kidnapper...duh..or die trying.and would die for my kids or the greater good, another duh....but no promisses either way on the out come...all on chance, if you even can trust the the kidnapper,and the greater good does not mean the higher class,or wealthy,or someone who thinks they deserve to live better than the next person..most likely be the one to go who thinks that in my eyes :P
chucka59 1 year ago
I'd kill him.
1 Life is not worth as much to me as the lives of my whole family - especially when he has just like 10 natural years ahead of him while my family has more than 300 years (everyone's years put together) to go.
DerWaldWichtel 1 year ago
It's very simple I would just shoot the guys threatening us!
Kingucktoad 1 year ago
i'd kill the poor old bastard,, that is if I couldn't coordinate a fight against the kidnappers.... i would willingly die for my kids
xd1rtx 1 year ago
* he isn't willing to die for anything right now. If he could not do the things that give him this viewpoint any longer, he would probably be willing to die for the right to do them again.
ShortOrderLectrician 1 year ago
We are all survivors; we're genetically hard-wired for it. So the first answer is that I'd kill him.
Now it is always possible to structure these questions to obtain any answer. i.e. I am worthless, he is a world-class virologist on the cusp of finding a cure for AIDS or cancer.
But if we're fine tuning the circumstances I might as well be the virologist.
So yeah, I want to live.
achtungcircus 1 year ago
I'd look around, there's always a trap door, then I'd use the gravity gun to pull the sink from the wall then BLAM, kidnapper is no more. Always look under the tables though for headcrabs, especially those long legged spidery ones, they're scary.
All joking aside though, I like to think that I'm not a blubbing coward, but I am and I've kids so that can be my excuse, so I'd kill the old man. Do I win a prize?
FreindlyRanger 1 year ago
I'd tell the old guy to kill me. I've always been willing to put myself in harm's way to help a stranger. I'm willing to risk my life for a lot of things, but I haven't found anything worth living for yet, if that makes sense. I'm not suicidal, but I also don't care too much about staying alive. I'm just kinda indifferent to the whole thing.
ApocalypticInferno 1 year ago
id flip a coin... if i didnt have a kid...
helioncry 1 year ago
@ArsenicCigarettes : lol, we're all fucking worthless man, I have a job to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly. Born and bred in poverty and clawed my fucking way out 4chan. I'm entitled you shit eating upper class motherfucker. Fucking hand me down from mommy and daddy bitch. You got your attention 4chan. Piss off.
Nagneto 1 year ago
My bottom line is I wouldn't kill the old man. That is the limit of my control in this scenario.
What would I die for? I would 'hope' my family. Even though I am confident I would, you just don't know until you face it.
ballyboneman 1 year ago
Have the old man shoot me in the head. I don't have much reason to exist. The number of people that would notice or care I can count on my hands. I don't have any outstanding prodigy like talents. Death is inevitable, be it forty years from now, or today. Besides, a kidnapper crazy enough to ask such a thing would probably kill us both anyway and then violate our corpses. Sweet dreams.
Nagneto 1 year ago
So what would you do, Frost?
nicanicabad 1 year ago
I'd die to save other's lives, especially my children.
RadarKat73080 1 year ago
@RadarKat73080 Problem: you can't save anyone's lives by sacrificing yours. You can hope you will, you can wish it'd happen, but you have no control over the future. All you have is probabilities, but even they are unreliable because you don't know all relevant factors to a certain outcome. All you have, in the end, is imagination/belief. Reality works like this: "Guy does a, b and c under condition s, therefore d happens". Imagination: Guy says "I'm gonna do d". Doesn't work like that.
Samuraionthewall 1 year ago
Are we aloud to talk to the old guy?
If so I'd ask the old man if he was willing to die to save the lives of me and our families, and if he wasn't ready to die I'd tell him to shoot me.
AHughman08 1 year ago
Reality isn't such a linear course of events. If these "people/person" has information on who your family is and where they are, then the best option is to try to neutralize them. Even if you sacrifice yourself or the other person. Your families could still die or be put in the same game OR most likely they will go on to do it to others. Who are you protecting by giving into their demands?
Sorry for the duplicate if it did.
Thayer79 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Reality isn't such a linear course of events. If these "people/person" has information on who your family is and where they are, then the best option is to try to neutralize them. Even if you sacrifice yourself or the other person. Your families could still die or be put in the same game OR most likely they will go on to do it to others. Who are you protecting by giving into their demands?
Thayer79 1 year ago
This scenario plays out like a bad hollywood movie. These are psychotic killers obviously and whose to say they don't go kill your family anyways.
For this hypothetical to work, you have to establish unrealistic rules and all the players have to be bound to those rules.
Thayer79 1 year ago
I don't believe in giving into the demands of an obvious psycho. I would try to get the other person to join me and fight the piece of shit. I would not harm the other person nor allow them to harm me, within my power. If we fail. We fail and die with dignity. Why would we roll over and give into someone trying to force a moral dilemma on us. That is giving them control over my actions. I have a responsibility to myself and my loved ones to act with integrity. There aren't only the three choices
Thayer79 1 year ago
If I insisted on myself, and she insisted on herself, I'd flip a coin. I would think it disrespectful not to consider my wife's desire for me to live.
MacabreManifesto 1 year ago
Just from a point of utility, I'd kill him. I'm not sure there'd be any moral responsibility given that it's under duress.
DLandonCole 1 year ago
BS Answer: Well, i can have anything I want, so I *want* to be fishing on Lake Michigan with no further responsibility in that scenario.
Real Answer: The old man dies. He's older, he's lived a life and had his experiences and doesn't have many more years left to him by comparison, given a reality that assumes the younger man will continue on to live his years unfettered. It's fairly simple logistics that need not go beyond that and were I the old man, I think my answer would be the same.
BiggestOfDaddies 1 year ago
i plan on doing a video response, just not tonight, so i thought i would lay out my basic answer here and then explain it later in a video. basically, i would evaluate the situation, based on who had the larger family, as well as how much that family relied on the two of us, as well as which family is larger, and would loose more from loosing one of us. based on those factors, i would make my decision to either kill or be killed. basically, neither, without more information.
MobileThinker 1 year ago
I think those that are not willing to die for anything only feel that way because they dont have anything of value taken away from them. If you were to ask a woman in the middle east who get gets the same rights we have here as pets, then Im sure she'll figure out a few things to die for instantly.
88Keyz101 1 year ago
hmmm seems to be a questions posed by the joker at some point in a certain movie...
southpawOO7 1 year ago
I would not choose and let the dude with the gun choose.
Atleast that way there is no guilt on both sides.
kvj1989 1 year ago
id explain to the old man how valuable my life is, in an attempt to convince him-and more so myself- that my life is more valuable than his.
Benlucky13 1 year ago
It's a trick question. You have to look at it from the old man's point of view. At 70, he should be volunteering to be the one to die based on the fact that he has experienced life and will in all likelihood die long before you anyway. And if he doesn't pipe up and volunteer, then he's a selfish man and you can be justified in acting the same way and killing him.
HentaiGaiJin 1 year ago
Call me what you like, but I would kill the old man. I hate to admit it, and I'd probably hate myself for it, but I would. I can't honestly say to myself that I wouldn't, and there would be no reason behind it other than to prolong my own life.
I think I would die for my loved ones if I thought it would directly ensure their lives were prolonged. If this situation were presented to me and one of my loved ones or good friends replaced the old man, I would gladly lay my life down.
Mongoose327 1 year ago
The comments to this video are more depressing than fuck all. The world needs more education.
WickeDFate4 1 year ago
my answers; I would say I would kill the man just to try to take one of the hostages down with me (assuming i would get control of the gun) Once death is determined it a matter of taking as many people down with me that deserve it.
I would die/risk my life for any complete stranger. It would be a good way to die, and I know whomever I save would remember me the rest of their life. Immortality thru death.
Kishandreth 1 year ago
@Kishandreth Did you just kill the stranger , and claim you were saving him? Did you, by killing this man, actually allow your mind to see yourself on the news as a hero? That is a movie, not a life.
WickeDFate4 1 year ago
Psh, I'd rather live for something. I don't really care about anyone but not in a spiteful sense. I just think I may be at least somewhat sociopathic and its gone undiagnosed, so I'd kill whoever the hell else was in the room with me, not that I'm overly fond of myself but hey, I'm all I've got. I suppose I'm not very typical.
BoozyBeggar 1 year ago
Calculate who will contribute to society the most.
3DInteractiveGun 1 year ago
You didn't specify if the kidnapper had accomplices, so I will assume that he is alone. What a fool for handing us a loaded gun. Result: Dead kidnapper.
yadabub 1 year ago
In your scenario I would certainly kill the old man. Neither of us has more inherent worth than the other, so there's no good reason to choose his continued existence over my own.
In general, I can't think of any good reason to die for anyone. In practice however, I know that there are certain situations where I would be emotionally driven to sacrifice myself, but I don't think I could logically defend the decision.
hooloovoo1st 1 year ago
@hooloovoo1st After considering your response, the gun is given to the old man. The old man shoots you in the gut and leaves you to bleed.
yadabub 1 year ago
I'd like to say kill the old man, yet I don't think I could find it in my heart to do that.
Keitaro2011 1 year ago
Flip a coin. I don`t see how it could get more fair than that.
rangedkid 1 year ago
solely considering the age of the other man. I would probably kill him. Because if I am a man in my 30's ( which is pretty close to my actual age) I probably haven't experienced as much in life as he has. Also at that age a person is more likely to ( in my case) hypothetically have young children completely dependent upon him for food and shelter, he (I) is also a greater asset to the economic structures considering that most people in their seventieths are retired and receive pension
fiend1669 1 year ago
As of now I have nothing in my life worth dying for, but I've been in love before and actually thought about this at the time, so if I ever find someone else in the future I would most certainly think that I would die for them.
However given the situation that you proposed, I think there is more to think about. Like is living actually the more desired outcome? To some people killing their loved one may be so distressing that they may commit suicide themselves or live with the guilt etc.
Daiblix 1 year ago
I have nothing worth dieing form, and I don't perceive other human beings worth very well. I don't think I'm going to answer the first question because of this.
911isfun 1 year ago
video response coming
ProportionalResponse 1 year ago
I love these dilemmas, as they give well defined consequences. They're intended not to give wiggle room or alternate scenarios. An alternate scenario may be, "I turn the gun on my captors", but thats not the point of the exercise.
Consequences. Do you make choices based on consequences implemented by a non negotiating world. What meridianfrost suggests is a zero sum game.
Guaranteed results in the example, yes, I shoot the 70 year old. Selfish, yes. But so is this example world.
Kreadus005 1 year ago
I would make an alliance with the other captive and over throw the kidnappers. Or die trying.
Apparently I would die for a smoke.
angryislander56 1 year ago
@angryislander56 I didn't think alliances were an option - but maybe that's my willingness to accept rules (and authority?) talking. Good for you, L - fight! Fight! FIGHT!
Elaina43 1 year ago
What would I die for? People more beautiful and intelligent than I am, which there are many.
EllyMcCormack 1 year ago
You sound a lot like Steve Rubell <3
EllyMcCormack 1 year ago
I love how people try to find loopholes in the hypothetical question without realising the entire point of the question itself.
Obviously, I'd shoot the old man.
Leonis1989 1 year ago
@Leonis1989 how is a 30 something year-old man really that old?
DudeIAmAPsy 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@DudeIAmAPsy - Thank you for proving my point.
Leonis1989 1 year ago
That question sounds similar to one that LordWhorfinX once asked:
youtube.com/watch?v=V1gB0W3ktcY
zarkoff45 1 year ago
What would I do if the Kidnappers gave me that choice, I would lay down and play dead, tell the old man to say he killed me and jump the kidnappers. I would rather die fighting for my freedom then have to live with the blood of an innocent person on my hands. as for what would I die for besides my child not much.
666nonbeliever 1 year ago
I would kill the old man. Especially if he was a stranger to me.
nrevelations777 1 year ago
I'd like to think I'd die for the old man. How it would turn out in reality I'm sure depends on details - the sense of danger, my impression of the old man, and things that are hard to think of unless it's really real.
If I though I was going to heaven, it wouldn't even be a challenge, though. It wouldn't really be a sacrifice either, then.
TheSlowThinker 1 year ago
Id snap that old fuckers neck real quick, natural selection baby, survival of the fittest.
argo984 1 year ago
@argo984 I would shoot him in the nuts first; ask him how it felt, then i would kick him in the ear. after watching him roll around in pain: I would know that there is only one moral option: euthanasia! After putting the old man out of his misery, I would hold my head high and know that I made Mills proud.
bigbaddeerhunter 1 year ago
i would let him kill me, sometimes it harder to live with a guilty conscious then it is to die
canadianbeeph 1 year ago
I would blow the old mans head off.
bigbaddeerhunter 1 year ago
i think a most people would die for someone else, even someone they do not know as most would try and save another from harm. they would not think if i save this person i might/would die, just i have to save this person
we hear on the news all the time people say 'any one would do the same' when they have put themselves in danger and sitting watching tv we would think 'no i would not' only as we have had the time to think that, split second actions are through instinct not thought
333derick333 1 year ago
@333derick333
This makes no sense what so ever. That there are some people that sacrifices themselves for people they dont know, is a fluke, its an abnormality.. We are hardwired to survive and protect our offspring. Walking out killiing ourselves to protect a person who is potential competition in the struggle to survive. The fact that he might kill your children just makes it a sure thing, anyone who wouldnt do anything to save their own children is messed up, even in this scenario..
Ivpiv 1 year ago
@Ivpiv the idea that people would help another can not be a abnormality in the general veaw of things or we would not have the army, police or firemen, these people may do the jobs just for the money but most do them for the betterment of everybody even though their loved ones could suffer for it, and even going through the fear of that loved one not coming home when in reality they are safe at work
333derick333 1 year ago
@333derick333 I think that only counts if you're part of the scene that's happening. Evidence and history show that people sitting at home, or walking by, will, in most cases, ignore someone being hurt. That is why people are taught to yell "fire" and not "help" when they're being hurt.
People have a fight or flight reflex, but sadly, that fight part is (mostly) only when you are directly involved. Maybe 15-20% would jump in and help in the above scenario.
tommy605 1 year ago
Hypotheticals! yeah! of course I would kill the old man. I'm not gonna be a hypocrite, he has had a long life, I'm just begining to enjoy it. There is only one life so why I would sacrifice my precious little life for someone that is already in the verge of dying anyway. Fuck that. I rather be the bad guy.
nyarlotep 1 year ago
Well, on the up-side...after the 70 year old guy's funeral, I'll be able to apologize to his family for killing him.
As for what I would die for...well, that's a rather long list...as for "who" I would die for, well, that's a rather short list. It's sad...anything I would die for would be something for me to experience.
I'm such a selfish prick.
CobraJones 1 year ago
First and foremost, I would try to talk it over with the man. Not manipulate him, but see how he feels. But if he wasn't having it, I'd probably let him shoot me, as I would rather my friends and family remember me as a victim than as someone who murdered a 70 year old man because someone told me to.
I can't help but feel like this is a much easier question for 70-year old men to answer.
What I would die for depends on the situation, mainly how much happiness would result from it.
IlSilentEarthIl 1 year ago
let the old dude shoot me and hope everybody learned from the selflessness of my actions!
shangerboy 1 year ago
I would find a way to kill the hostage taker by all means necessary.
And, I would totally die for my grandmother's spanish rice. So freakin' gooood!
somethinguncreative 1 year ago
Well, I'm gonna die eventually anyway and I'm not going to my grave with the deliberate death by my hand of an innocent old man on my conscience. If I could, I'd do my best to leave with some of my enemies to keep me company on that last trip down the dark tunnel to goodbye.
Before I joined the Army National Guard, I asked myself for whom would I die. I made my decision and took my vow. : )
phenixwryter 1 year ago
@phenixwryter no one said anything about the old man being innocent.
Demockracy69 1 year ago
@Demockracy69
Then enlighten me, since you are able to judge better than I, does he deserved to die?
phenixwryter 1 year ago
@phenixwryter Judge? I wasn't judging anything YOU were judging by saying he was innocent which is unverified. I was simply stating that it was unverified. and you come back with a snarky reply? Does he deserve to die? that's unknowable since its a hypothetical and no history was given. Would i kill him to prolong my own existence? Well lets examine that. I have a family a wife and children whom its my responsibility to take care of, i am young and healthy while he is aged and maybe has -
Demockracy69 1 year ago
@phenixwryter 10 years left, If it came down to me killing a man whom i know nothing about so that i may continue to provide for my family and live my life(which is far longer then his). yes i would kill him but whether he "deserves" it or not is irrelevant in this situation.
Demockracy69 1 year ago
@Demockracy69 Dude, I didn't mean to piss you off. Sorry. Its cool-everyone answers the question in their own way. : )
phenixwryter 1 year ago
@phenixwryter didn't piss me off at all, you asked for enlightenment.
Demockracy69 1 year ago
I would think about it... for about a femtosecond. Then I would kill him.
aMondia 1 year ago 2
I hate to say it But I would shoot the old guy. Even if it wasn't an old man and was someone young, male or female, I would still shoot them to save my own skin. If I was the 70 year old though I would consider shooting myself.
Only thing in this world I would die for is my kids and maybe to save my best friend.
genestealerbroodlord 1 year ago
ew at these logical responses. fuck logic. nobody forces me to do anything. nobody. how about this, I'm a genius with unbreakable bones and a voice that can make brains explode. I win.
ultimategoobah 1 year ago
I think it's prety unfair to make that kind of situation since, I would act much differently in bit different one. Logically the old man should be one to die. But if there would be another person instead of that old one, person who is healthy as I'm and old as I'm... Suicide would be my option then. Not doing anything would be same as killing both.
So kill the old man and create (you said I can create anything) machine which allows me to revive him :D
Tespri 1 year ago
I'd kill the other guy...
don't know what I would die for...
ImperiousViking 1 year ago
Let's see.I would say I would kill the old man and myself.Then when they handed me the gun with two bullets in it I would blow them away~
As for what I would die for you would be amazed how the survival instinct is overpowering....
littleyellowkite 1 year ago
Very few things i can imagine myself dying for. I'd have to be convinced something is more worthy than myself and will outlast me. For example i would not sacrifice my life to save 5 people if they will likely only live one more day.
The kidnap experiment was used in The Dark Knight, no brainer for me.
spiritualbully 1 year ago
I am not sure if I am answering in the confines of your question: but I would use the room to try and fight/destroy my/our kidnappers, as I generally do not conform to ultimatums.
And I suppose contrary to my “room answer”, I would intentionally die for immediate family and friends only.
Katalyzt
Katalyzt 1 year ago
Simple kill the old bastard Even if I was the old bastard. I would die to preserve the lives of my off-spring or others much younger than myself.
Nhurm 1 year ago
I want to die of a a heroine overdose.
TheClassyHat 1 year ago
not a pretty way to go..
irieJohnny 1 year ago
I'm a coward so I would ask if it was ok for this senerio to happen.
I would ask the old man to take the gun if he promiced to save my family and he could either shoot me or himself, his choice with no recriminations
Then I would fall to the floor with my hands over my head and say 'shoot, shoot ' and hope I hear his body hit the floor and I don't die of a heart attack when the gun went off
But with my luck the wife would be pissed the old man wouldn't shoot and shoot me, such is life
Curas1 1 year ago
This reminds me of the Donner Party but without the cannibalism. If he had the cure for cancer or aids I would probably let him shoot me to get out. But assuming we know nothing about each other if I was the younger person I would most likely do it with regret. Especially if I had kids. I wouldn't want to leave them without a parent.
glacierlily 1 year ago
shoot the hostage taker.
Winnuting 1 year ago
It is clear that one of us would have to kill the other to save both our families. So for me there are only two options: kill him or let him kill me. I would probably kill him, but I am pretty sure that I would be fucked up after this.
Nielow100 1 year ago
Join forces with the old man and fight our way to freedom, because why would they let one of us live just for killing the other? Obviously a compliant plaything is fun enough for a second round of bullshit (not to mention worth keeping as a pet).
As far as dying for something i suppose i would risk my life to save another innocent life. Perhaps i am flattering myself however and would simply do the cowardly thing and try to survive at all cost. Its hard to say for sure, living so comfortably,
H3RM3S78 1 year ago
You haven't discovered anything new. If you shoot the old guy, that's a way of self-preservation, for 3,5 billions of years living beings have been doing that, evolution works on it. On the other hand, if you had chosen to shoot yourself, so that the old man can live, you would have been following the strong sense of altruism, built in us as social beings by evolution.
dewinthemorning 1 year ago
Well if the kidnappers are dumb enough to give both their hostages guns, I guess me and the old guy shoot our way out or die trying. I don't do well with ultimata, I tend to always find option C, where C is the thing most likely to piss off the person forcing the choice on me... ;)
CountSpanku1a 1 year ago
I would maybe get killed in the act of defense of "Whatever" But not lay down and die.
no1saphead 1 year ago
I would talk to the old man and tell him next time the man came in I would attempt to take him out, and that I hoped he would do his best to help me. In your question you did not mention who we were kept in the room nor how the 70 year old would kill the 30 if that was the case I think your question has to many options. But to answer you I would not kill someone becasue someone threatened or my familie unless the person who I was killing was the person who threatened me. Peace
TheRenekruse 1 year ago
Kill the old man. Not a hard question. I'm 30 he's 70, he should die.
Asadawa 1 year ago
ho,hum"The Saw", I'd do what ever it took to live, the old man dies before the little puppet on the tricycle finishes the sentence, BLAM BLAM BLAM! (I'd be angry at the kidnappers for forcing me to kill him or me).
Pineconevolved 1 year ago
Kill the old man. If he doesn't sacrifice himself, he'll be killing me. Sort of simplifies things, when the actual choices are:
1. Sacrificing yourself for your family.
2. Condemning yourself and your entire family in exchange for a moment of a clear conscience.
3. Sacrificing your clear conscience.
For a few people in this world, I'd be prepared to die, but I'd also be prepared to slaughter countless millions to keep them alive.
SAsgarters 1 year ago
@SAsgarters Regarding point 2, scratch that last part. I don't think I could feel good about having condemned myself, my family and that old guy.
SAsgarters 1 year ago
I would speak to the man.
I know my reasons for why I would want to live on, and I would express those reasons to him.
If I felt he could convince me that he BLAM! (he shot me)
haha, no really, I would like it to come down to a debate between the 70 year old and I.
If I really felt he had more to contribute to the world with his remaining years than I did, I'd let him take me out, though if by the end of the debate/discussion, I felt my reasons superseded, I would kill him.
Shawnruss 1 year ago
Man, I really don't like dillemas like that. First reason is, of course, that its a dichotomy. In the real world, you always have more choices than two equally fucked up ones. Second of all, the entire moral responsibiliy for whatever happens in the room falls on the kidnapper, not on the victims. Whatever you do, you cant be considered guilty. For me its like wondering what will happen if a two headed calf has sex with a two assed zebra. It may be mildly interesting, but hardly relevant.
PeterTheEvilBastard 1 year ago
@PeterTheEvilBastard
Buzz kill, play the game or gtfo ;)
Shawnruss 1 year ago
I would die only to live forever. Lucky for me, death is the beginning of immortality.
As for my family, friends and the sum of humanity. Kill them all--I can keep busy scavenging for food and back issues of Heavy Metal.
ThotherBrother 1 year ago
I do not like questions like that. What people say that they will do and how they really act in a life and death moment are not that closely related. Most people would say that they would be cool in an emergency. A lot of people who are really smart will over think it and just freeze .Even if you say you would die for someone, you would push them under when your are drowning. Who you are in a situation depends on experience in that area, not your moral philosophy.
a11m0n 1 year ago
Perhaps your old physics teacher is older than you - that he does not see "what will you die for?" as a vital question any more - as he is not forming his world view - he has it.
johncrwarner 1 year ago
shoot the hostage taker!... wait, we can't break the rules can we? then sit there in stupid optimism that something will happen to change the situation? no?... okay, then all i can say is i don't think anyone could truly know the answer to that question until put in that situation, the chemicals and emotions that come into play during such situations can change a person entirely, you can speculate sure, but it's naive almost to think you can really accurately predict your actions
IzzyBunneh 1 year ago
I wouldn't trust any kidnappers making such an offer. I'd assume that after watching their sick little show the bastards would most likely kill the victor anyway. Therefor, I'd simply refuse to play the game. I'd certainly defend myself if the other participant couldn't be brought to see the situation from my perspective, but I would still refuse to kill him. Non-aggression against my fellow man is a value I'm more than willing to die for.
renegade4dio 1 year ago
It seems implied, but not entirely clear, that you'd be the one to take the bullet in that hypothetical situation. Is that correct? That you would trade your life for the life of one other person?
MrLowercaseA 1 year ago
i don't know but i thank i kill the old man or die with him
leon2343 1 year ago
i'd save my ass. give me a loaded gun and im gettin out of there. question is: is the gun fully loaded or will i have to play their game because theres only one in the chamber?
vaxeh 1 year ago
i would want to kill him but I can't see myself pulling that trigger.
UntamedBlueLight 1 year ago
Survive at all costs.
patienceking 1 year ago
Id wait and see, most likely we would both die. Not because I didnt want to live, not because I am kind or thoughtful, but because I am a giant pussy who could never pull the trigger on somebody :(
myjizzureye 1 year ago
Ask him if he could kill a man in cold blood. If he answers yes. Kill him before he kills you. If he answers no, kill him, because i'm not committing suicide, and it's probably better then a fight to the death, and he could be lying.
lubermanl 1 year ago
Klondike.
mrHBski 1 year ago
I'd throw the fat guy on the tracks.
TETSUno1 1 year ago
i would kill them.
TheMindsmack 1 year ago
dieing is the easy part of life, everything does it at least once, the how and why is rather trivial, like everything else is on the big cosmic scale. so the question is: would you be just as willing to kill the old man as the old man might be just as willing to kill you?' people might say they could murder the old man, but one will never know until they actually commit the act. pondering someone else's mortality it a lot different than pondering your own. (shrugs)
slurm420 1 year ago
One of the interesting things about this question is that it highlights the fact that living is a biological imperative. When you ask a question to the organism: "What would you die for"? you immerse the biologically conditioned mechanism into the imaginative realm.
The whole thing is a cheap trick, of course. Everything's going to die.
threeofwands 1 year ago
@threeofwands And I would expand a bit on this by saying that the imaginary realm is where religion, art, and creativity have a nexus. Now this is a problem when the *Church* becomes an institution. But those who want to see a lively debate about it should check out DasAmericanAtheits's channel at the moment.
threeofwands 1 year ago
Wait for the kidnapper to come back in, kill him, take his gun, and do a movie style escape.
TheWhiteRabbit1990 1 year ago
The people holding me hostage would have to enforce it. Maybe we both die.
Hierophant2 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I would attack those 2 man. I`m sure that they will give me knife, club or gun :)
HotZetiGer 1 year ago
What would I die for?
I would die for 2 things. One is obviously for those I love the most. Cliche, yes, but it's true regardless. If and when I marry, and if and when I have children, I would obviously lose my life to ensure they keep living. The other would be for humanity. If my death would help teach people to live in peace, to realize that we all live on the same planet, and that learning to rely on one another rather than fight, well, it's a death I'd be glad to take.
JTrizzleFizzle 1 year ago
I would murder that old man without prejudice.
I would die to be remembered loved and admired.
BourgeoisMachinery 1 year ago 2
Everybody has a level of self-interest, and most people feel very strongly for their family - more so than they do for a stranger or a stranger's family. I would feel guilty later, but my desire to live and the desire to protect my family would force my hand in killing a stranger and his family. I wouldn't die for anything intentionally -- there would always be the plan that I could live and achieve the goal I had in mind. Dying would be due to risk, not actual intent.
razredge07 1 year ago
whatever .... I want... u mean like 1 choice, endless? Be god? Be perfect? Be Truth? Be Heaven? lol
I don't know what I would die for because dying isn't a choice :) logically speaking...and am thankful for that............But I would die for "dieing" to not be a choice ... but if LIFE manifested itself like that .... then no life could ever exist in the first place ;)
so it's really an impossible question, but to banter with you...It's 50:50 to die for the guy if it's "satan" fuk him :)
sonicsoul0 1 year ago
You're both going to die eventually anyway. By not taking the bullet you only postpone the inevitable. Even if you lived to be some historically awesome person who did great things for humanity, it's only valid as long as humanity is around. I guess I look at it this way....the sun will eventually use up its fuel and then all of this will be over; although humanity will likely be long extinct before then. The Universe just keeps on moving like it did before we we got here.
HeroesofApostasy 1 year ago
i will sacrifice myself for the greater good of man
alexporterfield 1 year ago
Dying for a cause sound so noble - but it really rarely is. Its very seldom that dying for something actually acomplishes something more than you could have acomplished by living to "fight another day" and pursue that same goal.
Given that there absolutely aren't ANY other possible outcomes (ie. a pure theoretical situation) then I'd kill the other prisoner. Not because he is older, or I'm more important or anything, but simply because if one HAS to die anyway then I value me more than others.
TheStigma 1 year ago
@TheStigma Its just simply a pragmatic thing to do. I don't see what you would prove to anyone by either steadfastly refusing to kill and thus discarding bth lives - or by "nobly" sacrificing your own life to save the other guy. unless that person had the (as of yet unpublished) cure to cancer in his noggin or something like that then I just don't see why that would be any better. Being kind if good - but I don't think suicidal-level altruism nessecarily is...
TheStigma 1 year ago
There's nothing I can say that I want to die FOR, because death is a waste of the abilities you possess in life. But there is one thing I would like in death. When I die, I want to die knowing that I made a difference in someone's life. Die knowing that I made some sort of a difference, no matter how miniscule, no matter how seemingly pointless to anyone else. I want to die with dignity.
So no, there isn't anything I want to die FOR, but there is everything I want to die WITH.
LucasI3434 1 year ago
Ignoring the premise (I would kill as many of the captors as possible,assuming they are going to kill us both anyway) forced to make the choice, I would choose my life over his. But if I were he, I would also insist that the younger man live (as many have done in real situations). But such stark dilemmas are rare in real life.
nothingUnrealExists 1 year ago
personally i would smash the old fucks head in.
thekwizatshaderach 1 year ago
I would want them to die knowing that their hope and dreams would come true, because this is a situation based on potential. I have the ability to do what he or she could not, because their days would end anyway in the alternative situation.
It's better to make use of one life that can fulfill both of them, than to lose them both in vain.
LucasI3434 1 year ago
As a nihilist with no kids or anyone else who depends on me...I guess I'd take the bullet. Don't get me wrong I'm enjoying this ride called life, the good and bad, but in the end none of this will matter. Whether I die of natural causes at 101 or take a bullet to the head in my 30's, dead is dead. It's not like you'll have regrets of all the things you could have done after death anyway. Plus, I would be haunted every day of the remainder of my life by killing the other person to save myself.
HeroesofApostasy 1 year ago
My answer may seem morbid and insensitive but i beg of you hear me out. One of us WILL die no matter what, so the choice is really between if you want one person, or both of you to die.
Firstly, I would be to talk with the older person. See what they've accomplished in their life, and what they still want to accomplish.
However, I would choose to kill them--but that death would not be in vain. I would make sure I'd accomplish what they had wanted to, but no longer had the ability to.
LucasI3434 1 year ago
i would tell the guy lets die trying to escape...I got your back, you got mine.
BTW, I would die for a pint of hagen daz ice cream. On a serious note, I would like to think I would trade my life for another. Although I don't like most people so it would have to be a total stranger. ; )
side note: don't take life to seriously. jut enjoy the ride.
gobblegobblechew 1 year ago
Okay I've listened to the questions a few times and I'm going to think it is like, you are aloud to wish for one item, status, anything like that but after that wish you have to die or kill the other man or both die. I would probably wish for protection for my family and possibly kill the old man even though since they held me hostage they would probably still kill me and still possibly my family so I would want to die giving my wish to keep my family alive even at the cost of the other man life
1001Lai 1 year ago
If the only 2 options are:
1) one of you die
2) both of you die
..then obviously option 1 is superior. But realistically, it's more complex; can you fight back? What's your chance of success? If you kill your cell mate, will you be let free or killed as well? What are their motives? Can they be reasoned with? etc etc.
Flyborg 1 year ago
Interesting scenario - well presented to by the way. Dying to hear your answer to it :D As for me - I cannot kill another, so, be that right or wrong in this case, I will not kill the older man, or myself. There are certain times when doing a greater evil brings no good outcome. If the kidnappers will kill - as much as I hate that outcome, I won't join in the killing either way.
ASilvershade 1 year ago