Hypothetical choice

[Deleted]

You are now the dictator of a country. Congratulations!

Now you're given a choice.
Your best scientists, doctors and whatnot have found the cure for cancer. But they need to test it to improve it. By testing it it is a 100% certainty that the final cure will work and cure any kind of cancer from anyone. But the subjects you used for testing will be killed after so nobody knows what atrocities your country did. So if you decide to allow them to test the cure for cancer, all the subjects in the test will either die during the test or be killed at the end. You can't use existing cancer patients because the cure needs to be tested from first degree of cancer so you'd need new sujects and the first few thousands would die for sure in horrible pains until the cure is perfected and all the nations of the world wouldn't allow you to do this.

You need 10.000 people for the test, and you are given the following options:
-take 10.000 mass-murderers, mass rapists, people who kill for greed or fanaticism, child molesters etc, so all you can think worst and use them for the test. These criminals are 100% guilty. I don't care that in real life not everyone who gets in prison is guilty, in this scenario, all 10.000 of them are sure 100% guilty. Because it's a hypothetical scenario, not real life.
-take 10.000 poor, crippled or old people and fake their disappearances and use them. These people don't have families who'd look for them, they're alone, barely have some friends, if any.
-take 10.000 random people from the street. This is random, your troops would just abduct people at random.
-try to kidnap 10.000 people from a poor country or pay the gouvernment of said country for the people. They'd give you random people, but there's no guarantee the gouvernment of said country won't tell the story of how you performed tests on humans killing them.
-not do any test, but this assures the fact the cure will not work and, in this scenario, no cure for cancer could be found in the next 500 years at all.


So, what do you chose any why?

Edit: you can't have criminal volunteers because this is a hypothetical scenario and the question is actually "would you put the benefit of the many in front of the benefit of the few, and how far would you go?" If you change the choices, you move away from the question. Take it or leave it, this is how scenario goes. No volunteers.

If you resign the military chief would come in charge and he's a ruthless bastard and he'd use chemical weapons to have others become infected with cancer and many other diseases somehow from many countries so he'd have as many subjects as possible. As it stands, more then 10.000 would die this way. Millions would die if you resign or kill yourself.

Also, you're not an evil overlord because you're a dictator. You're YOU as a supreme commander of your nation. No clue how you got there but you're not evil because you're dictator.

[Deleted]

nr. 1, the guilty ppl, though it would help to make to much people survive the next 500 years (in this scenario) and most of the 10.000 murderers/rapists/w/e do have to sit in prison for years, and do have the least probability to come back into normal life.

But tbh this is just a theoretical scenario, and I can't tell you, what I would do, if I was in the situation in RL.

[Authary]

What about children ? We can't be sure the cure works on children too without tests !

Edit : Oh nvm, I guess there are children in the random people option !

[obdigore]

Criminals assuming that they are 100% guilty as stated and have done such horrible things that they are spending the rest of their life in prison.

[semaphore]

I'd take 10,000 criminals who willingly volunteer to be test subjects in return for having their death sentences commuted.

[Deleted]

That's a toughy. Ideally, I'd prefer not to be in a position where I was able to make life or death decisions for so many people. I think I'd likely resign if I was pressed to make a decision on something like that. It's really a question of if you feel strong enough to bear the weight of such an abhorrent action for the betterment of the overwhelming majority of people who would be saved as a result of your cruelty.

If I had to choose some method of carrying it out, I'd probably try find 10,000 murderers and then shoot myself after the job was done, or find 9,999 and offer myself as the last one. Though, I don't know if I'd have the backbone to do that.

[breadisfunny]

i'd take the 10000 criminals option.

[Activi-T]

I don't suppose we could pick 5000 old people and 5000 prisoners could we? It will help with freeing up space in prison and it is also 5000 fewer people that will be taking government pensions and stuff. You would also need to test the cure on children so maybe take a few from orphanages and randomly select newborns from a hospital and just tell the parents that they died from some sort of infection afterwards. We do want to be thorough with this cure after all.

We were trying to be the most morally abhorrent, weren't we.

[Deleted]

I'd take 10,000 criminals who willingly volunteer to be test subjects in return for having their death sentences commuted.

This...and given a decent reward there are enough criminals that would be willing to give up their life anyway.

[Deleted]

Cancer will never be cured, the same as a cure for the common cold will never happen.
If the common cold is cured, imagine how many companies/how much money would vanish from the economy.
Same applies to things like cancer and aids, sadly, the sheer amount of money that is generated from people needing treatments, drugs being purchased, companies' research being funded by charities and such, means that a cure may be available for these things (and I think there already is) but it will never be made available for general use.

[Deleted]

I'd take 10,000 criminals who willingly volunteer to be test subjects in return for having their death sentences commuted.

You can't. As I stated, the first few thousands would die in horrible pains until the cure is perfected, and the last few thousands would have to be killed otherwise the international community would find out and kill everyone involved as criminals of war and your generals/doctors/scientists don't want that so they'd remove you as soon as you tried it.

---------- Post added 2012-12-13 at 01:32 PM ----------

That's a toughy. Ideally, I'd prefer not to be in a position where I was able to make life or death decisions for so many people. I think I'd likely resign if I was pressed to make a decision on something like that. It's really a question of if you feel strong enough to bear the weight of such an abhorrent action for the betterment of the overwhelming majority of people who would be saved as a result of your cruelty.

If I had to choose some method of carrying it out, I'd probably try find 10,000 murderers and then shoot myself after the job was done, or find 9,999 and offer myself as the last one. Though, I don't know if I'd have the backbone to do that.

If you resign the military chief would come in charge and he's a ruthless bastard and he'd use chemical weapons to have others become infected with cancer somehow from many countries so he'd have as many subjects as possible. As it stands, more then 10.000 would die this way.

[Deleted]

Why would anyone pick anything but 1?

[semaphore]

You can't. As I stated, the first few thousands would die in horrible pains until the cure is perfected, and the last few thousands would have to be killed otherwise the international community would find out and kill everyone involved as criminals of war and your generals/doctors/scientists don't want that so they'd remove you as soon as you tried it.

Well, I realise it's all hypothetical, but this doesn't make hypothetical sense. What's the international community going to be upset about under my proposal? These death row inmates would have volunteered to sacrifice themselves for the greater good and give their lives meaning. Besides, it's not like those countries aren't going to need to cure either.

Also if the criminals are due to be executed anyway then you can still offer enough incentives to entice people to willingly die for science, or chance being in the latter surviving groups. You wouldn't need to kill those because, as I said, the rest of the world isn't going to be that outraged about it.

[Coote]

I'd use the violent criminals. Non-violent offenders wouldn't be touched.

[Deleted]

I'd probably be wracked with guilt, step down at the very least at the end, and almost certainly be unable to live with myself, but 10,000 guilty people who are already locked away because they are a danger to society... to save hundreds of thousands, potentially even millions of lives worldwide seems like the best option to me.

[Calzaeth]

I would pick 10.000 random citizens over 18 (or w/e the age of majority is in Rightway). Criminals are already paying the price for their actions, and the magical cure for cancer will benefit everyone. Therefore, everyone should risk being a victim of this horrible research that I would only conduct in this hypothetical scenario.

Since I'll probably be called naïve, stupid, and any other number of things for not choosing the mass rapists etc., I'll leave the thread. You have my choice, and my reasons. =)

[Shippai]

10.000 twilight fans

[PizzaSHARK]

10,000 crippled, old, and people who are otherwise leeches on my grand, evil empire. Poor people can be put to work. Criminals can be used up as slave labor. The old, crippled, cataclysmically retarded (the ones who are so far gone they can't even accomplish simple tasks on their own), etc aren't good for anything else as far as my budding empire is concerned; at least they're doing some good being used as test subjects.

[Demoneq]

I won't be original - the criminals, whom you have described, don't seem like they could ever be resocialized, so keeping them alive in prison for the rest of their lives (not as punishment, but so they can't harm anyone else) is just a waste of money and resources. However, as for the part of dying in horrible pain, as soon as testing on any of them is finished, they'd receive euthanasia to reduce their suffering, as I wouldn't be needlessly cruel, either. (plus painkillers during it, if possible)

The killing of the remaining ones administered afterwards, would be to be carried out as painlessly as possible, too.

[Deleted]

If you resign the military chief would come in charge and he's a ruthless bastard and he'd use chemical weapons to have others become infected with cancer somehow from many countries so he'd have as many subjects as possible. As it stands, more then 10.000 would die this way.

You really want us between a rock and a hard-place, don't you? xP

Well, in that case, I suppose I would, as Lelouch puts it, "become evil to conquer an evil larger still!". I don't think I could live with the weight of those deeds afterwards though.