Would you kill 3 people to save a dying relative?
 

Just a kind of moral question;

If you 77 year old Mum was going to die in the next hour, would you press a button that would kill three people in the world to give her an extra 10 years of life?

This reminds me of that film The Box. I hated that film

No I wouldn't.

However I would do it for a person I fell head over heels in love with.

Depends how old the people are and what they have and everything.

I would easily save my mother

You wouldn't know - you would just press the button knowing three people would die.

yes and without a flicker of doubt.

stupid question of course id save my mum

Yeah I would. But it'd depend who the other three people were that got killed.

I'm not sure, but I think I agree with Claudia.


this question makes me depressed

I've lost my mum, at the time I wouldn't have killed three people, now I wouldn't kill three people

Yes I would unless she told me otherwise.

The main problem here is..the three people could be people you know.

Say you push the button, it saves your mum, but kills your brother, sister, and partner.

Im not sure, if my mum was that old. For my sister (who is 20) I would do it in a heartbeat.

Let mother die.

Almost impossible though if it's just 3 random people in the world that are going to die

This.

Who cares if it's three random people?

Those three random people are people with families, just like you, taking them away just for your own happiness is selfish

True but i'd feel more guilty letting my mum die knowing i could have saved her then being responsible for the deaths of three people i don't know.

It's quite a depressing question. I would like to take the moral high ground and say I would let nature happen, and my Mother die and the 3 people live. However, that said I don't think I would be able to let my Mum die if she was in a good physical and mental condition obviously due to my emotional attachment.

That said, killing the three people is inevitably murder and I would live knowing I killed 3 people to add 10 years on to someone elses life. Of course, these people could of been close to death themselves. Or, they could of held the cure for cancer, global warming or another huge dilemna that faces society.

I suppose this kind of question puts you as 'God' - deciding the fate of individuals, and it's quite daunting.

Although I really would like to say I would let the 3 strangers live, I think if my mum was still able bodied and minded my own personal selfishness would come through - although I think the debt of that death would weigh heavy on my conscience.

True I guess. But still a really tiny chance that it would be someone else you were close to

Yeah, and hope it wipes out a small family instead

No I wouldnt, I dont think I would even kill 1 person tbh. If my Mum is 77 then she'll have lived a long life anyway, and it will be a natural end for her, I'm not going to take the lives of three people to prevent that.

I couldn't kill 3 people. That could be a kid or someone's young husband or a kid's mum,or whatever. I couldn't do it. And if my mum was going to die and was in pain well that's awful but being in pain is awful too.

This.

If all I had to do was press a button, I wouldn't even think twice about it.

i would never kill 3 innocent people.