£1million pounds in exchange for a life

I was going to post this in off-topic but thought it may be better suited in this section.


You're strolling down the streets, and a stranger approaches you and calls you over, you walk over bewildered and the man pulls out a briefcase containing exactly £1 million (of course this is all hypothetical). He offers you the money conditionally, that in exchange for you taking the money one person at random, will drop dead.

Would you still take the money and walk away unscathed that your actions directly caused the death of another human?

If you would, up to how many people would die for you to not accept the briefcase?



Yes, before you post it. Something along the lines of this was made into a film :

 

The only way I could take the money knowingly causing the death of another individual would be if, I after taking the money, then used it to save as many lives as possible.

Otherwise I wouldn't take the money.


edit: # of people is relative to how many I could save as well.

 

Depends if it was someone i directly know or not. Say it was some random guy living in another country and you would never know if he would actually die or not. then how many people would take it? I bet tons of people would take that deal once they see the money regardless of what they say on here. I personally might take the money in the situation i just cant say a sturdy yes or no. Its kind of the "opportunity" effect like in the bait car show. People don't directly go out stealing cars it's just when you present them with the opportunity some cant resist it. Definitely a hard question to answer with a 100% guarantee.

But if i knew like 2+ people would die i could safely say i would walk away because its not just an individual, it could be parents to an only child, along with tons of other possibilities.

 

This scenario has two themes to it. There is the morality theme, which is obviously that you take the money and someone dies - is it morally right to accept the death of another person for money?

The second theme being probability. Why probability? Because in the original scenario there is no promise that the person that drops dead won't be you.


To answer your question, I wouldn't take it

 

As horrendous as this sounds, I'd have a harder time living with myself not taking the money than if I accepted it & of course there's no promise, but the odds being 7billion/1 are heavily weighted in your favour

I guess I value a citizens life at less than £1million

 

That is why I feel that society has fallen to vast degradation. Because now it would be okay to take someone's life for money and not think of the consequences, which proves that life is much less important than money. We are selfish people.

Lets alter the situation: You get £1million but one of your close family members must die for it? Would you do it then? No, I bet you wouldn't - what is the difference? Emotional/sentimental connection? Do you not think there was emotional connection or sentiment to that other random person you killed? But you don't know them so why should you care? True?

 

I completely agree, I don't shy away from my emotional attachment to those close to me.

Though I do believe, there's always been an incredibly selfish and ignorant side to human nature.

 

I wouldn't take it, since I'm 17 and I don't really know what having a bit more money in my life would do for me since I'm living perfectly happy right now.

Why should I take days away from someone else's life just to add a bit more happiness to mine?

 

Not everyone would act so selfishly though. That is a sweeping generalization. Some people would actually consider other people before they decide. Human nature has it's shadow but it is generally a subconscious thing and does not influence every action.

 

Nope, I wouldn't take it.

"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin

Although I'm not proud in any way for quoting the man above, in the scenario given, I still had the power to keep one human alive (without any real loss of my own - I never owned the money in the first place). By letting this human die for selfish reasons is downright immoral. Even if I used that money, donated it to a cancer charity, and saved hundreds of lives, I would still be responsible for the death of another human. In the case where I didn't take the money, I wouldn't be as responsible for any deaths.

 

Not necessarily in this circumstance would someone act as selfishly as myself, but perhaps in other similar scenarios.

In this particular circumstance I did consider the life of another but still decided to take the £1million. I do also believe, that many people in desperate distraught situations would accept it, perhaps those a lot less fortunate than myself with fewer hopeful prospects of life.

The answer to the hypothetical question may be dependent on your current economical position.

There are those that argue, all our actions are a result of self-interest.

 

For me, I wouldn't take that money, because there is a word called humanity.

 

I was thinking and was going to say exactly what Nero said.

But part of this is also based on our current financial situations. People who are doing well off, and don't "need" the money probably wouldn't. They might depending how desperate they are to feed their "wants".

Someone who is poor, never thought about their wants because they are too busy thinking about their needs might do it. They've never experienced being anywhere close, they want to help their family member(s) or friends financially.

I wouldn't, don't need to explain why.

 

I wouldn't take the money, you don't know who that 1 person is. It could be your friend, family or even yourself. You could take away someone who inspires other people, or cause a chain reaction of suicides or something.

I wouldn't take the risk. If there was a situation where I knew who was going to die, and it was a criminal or someone evil, then I would take the money and use it to help the victims.

 

I agree with Oxodium. I value a life way under 1 million..
So yes, I would just walk off happy with that 1M in my hands I couldn't care less that a random person dies.

There aren't to many people that I know where I would care if they'd die for that 1M either. Just my father, my girlfriend and my grandparents perhaps.
The rest wouldn't hurt me to much

 

I would not, there are other ways to earn money.

 

I would take the money, only if i get to choose the person I kill.

 

Take it and use the money to save more then 1 person's life, and still have lots of money left over.

 

i wouldn't... id open the brief case to verify, smack the bitch.. fill my jacket wiv the coin n walk away.. leaving him with the breif case

 

You couldn't save a person let alone people with that much money

Personally I mean its one person.. what if it was a bad person? You don't know.. i'd say yes i'd probably take it because i wouldnt know if it was a bad person or not but i would think it is and have fun with a million pounds