A question for you, escapists.

[The Big Boss]

5 lives are but a small sacrifice for the good I can bring to the world. A grain of sand in the sea if you will. And those 5 should they be known or not, would be treated as the ones who brought about the golden age of man. Heroes, to be held in a regard higher than anyone.

What if someone else pushed the button and you were one fo the five?

 

[Tiger Sora]

5 lives are but a small sacrifice for the good I can bring to the world. A grain of sand in the sea if you will. And those 5 should they be known or not, would be treated as the ones who brought about the golden age of man. Heroes, to be held in a regard higher than anyone.

What if someone else pushed the button and you were one fo the five?

Well it wouldn't matter because I'd be dead and have no prior knowledge that I would be. Or if I did know, human self preservation would kick in and I'd try to destroy the button or the person.
Situational dilemma, yep.

 

[Bassik]

To hold in the palm of my hand the fate of five people I have never met? To know that the slightest aplication of pressure will end their lives?
To be a god?

Yes, I would push that button!

 

[MrGalactus]

Honestly, no, but if someone just put a big button in front of me without telling me what it did, I'd press it in a second. Which I have already done several times while browsing this thread, actually.

 

[zombie goat fetish]

I would press that button until it broke.

 

[AperioContra]

Yeah, pretty much my choice.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

I would press that button without hesitation.

I only care about a few people that I have some sort of personal relationship with. The rest of you are pretty much as "important" to me as lamp-posts and park-benches (I.e I try to avoid walking into you when im out of the house, but more than that I don't really care)

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

To hold in the palm of my hand the fate of five people I have never met? To know that the slightest aplication of pressure will end their lives?
To be a god?

Yes, I would push that button!

Hehe, sounds like you'd pretty much jizz in your pants if you ever held a loaded gun in your hand.

 

[Darius Brogan]

Yes, because waaaay deep down I; just like almost every other human alive, am a selfish, arrogant little puke that doesn't care much for human life. Over the years humans have shown me that there are almost no redeeming qualities about them, so why should I be the saint?

I'm aware that there are good people out there, but the odds of my button-press killing five, truly good people is roughly 1/100'000'000 (give or take a hundred million or so), whilst the other 99'999'999 would gladly press the button.

Say what you will about this view-point, but it's technically irrefutable, since every human alive has their price, and some would kill you personally for a sandwich.

I don't think that I'll ever understand the argument of 'Everyone else is ________, so there's nothing wrong with me being _________'..... I don't think that moralising works in that comparative manner. I suppose you can say that there's no shame to it, but that's saying that whether or not an action is wrong is measured purely by the majority's opinion.

The other one that I'm not following is 'People die all the time, so what difference does 5 people make?' Supposing that the 5 people who die have many years, good or bad, ahead of them (Not too unreasonable an assumption) you're action is still destroying all those years which would have been there even with your statistics.

Ok, I'm done now!

Believe me, when I first discovered just what my opinion was I thought I was a horrible person, but over the years I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter how good I am, someone will hate me, or want me dead for some reason, no matter how miniscule and, over time, I just stopped caring about human life.
At this very moment I can guarantee that somewhere out there, at least one person each is being raped, murdered, robbed, beaten, ect... and for no other reason then 'because I could'.
In fact, a couple years ago an old guy sleeping on a bench outside a bus station while he waited for his bus to arrive was beaten to death by two teenagers and the reason they gave the police was, and I quote, 'because we could'

When the rest of the planet gave up on their morals I decided that, while I wouldn't outright give up mine, I more or less removed the section entitled 'Care for humans'

If the button-press constituted killing five random animals, I wouldn't do it. Why? Because despite the fact that animals are very simple creatures by nature, and probably wouldn't mourn the loss of five of their number, they also can't consciously do evil, nor can they enjoy said act of evil.

It's a strange viewpoint to have, but it's what I've got.

 

[TakerFoxx]

Out of all the "This makes me lose faith in humanity" instances out there, this thread is edging toward the top ten of my list. Rather depressing to know that so many people here only need the right excuse to become a monster.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

Yes. I can be a selfish fuck, but I would do it

 

[Malo_Tux]

Oh yeah, I value my life a lot more than five people I don't know. After all, those five people could be those angry old men whose kids don't call him anymore because he hates the world and communists.

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

I would press it in a heartbeat, I don't know the people who will be dead, no skin off my back.