A Hypothetical: On human selfishness

[Calibar]

I would but only if they took food away from the fat people to feed the starving people.

[Pivotpony]

I would give up my legs, but not my arms.. I don't want to feel like a larva

I can live the rest of my life in a wheelchair, and use my arms to do various tasks.. But I would never part with my arms, that would destroy my life too much.
*selfish*



Also.. If I did it, would it turn Africa into a new superpower? Would they wage war upon others, killing millions? Or would it just suply those hungry people with a bigmac every day?

[Scottishpaladin]

No I'd rather die than have one limb cut off never mind 4. you couldn't do anything :S

[Calibar]

No of course not, i like my arm, why its my favourite apendage, im sorry people in africa are hungry but my arm is more importent to me than some random african i will never meet

You know people are starving all over the freaking world and not just Africa... do you live in a bubble or something?

[Job for a Cowboy]

Why the hell would i do that. so we can deliver some food to africa and their warlords take it?

I'll keep my appendages, thank you.

[Lysah]

We have other methods for solving hunger issues.

[Eazy]

Much people is saying YES, but i'am sure they'll change their mind if they'll see a bone saw in real life.

[wvx]

I'm a realist , I don't give a crap about "fortune" everyone makes his own fortune/misfortune . You don't live in my country to see the impact that that kind of people have on my country . By the way , most of the "people" that I talk about are unemployed and the reason they breed like rabits is because of the social help (allocation) they get each month from the state for each of their kids , and since they are unemployed and don't contribute with anything to the state funds , in the end it is me and my workers (that pay the taxes) that support them either we like it or not .
I have absolutely no problem with helping an elder person who has some problems and is in a bad situation , but helping people that can work but choose not to , NO WAY .
Oh , one more thing I remembered about the ones that I speak about , in the spring/summer some of the people who live in the countryside who have some pieces of land that they want to cultivate usualy need some help to work the land , when you ask them for help (payed of course) they usualy refuse the offer .
And another thing I remembered :
When I was a kid me , my brother and a bunch of other kids from the city came to live with our grandparents in the countryside (hillside/mountain area) ... we spent the entire summer there doing kids stuff , fishing , roasting the fish we caught , hitchhiking .... every day was an adventure in the middle of the nature with forests everywhere . During the last years of high-school , univ and a few years after I didn't visit those places that I used to love , now imagine my surprise/shock/horror when I came to those good old places 9 years later to see entire forests cut down and the places that I remembered were completely gone . The persons that cut those forests are exactly the ones that I speak about (the entire village knew about them) , and nobody could do anything because they bribed the ones who should have kept an eye on things .... oh how I HATE them .
And I have hundreds of other stories about thoes "less fortunate" adorable people that the italians , french , english and germans are kicking them out of their countries . If you have no firsthand experience with the people I talk about don't speak until you do , they might look good in novels and Shakira/Madona/J-Lo songs but what you see in the songs isn't reality .

[MonsieuRoberts]

Hell no! I'd much rather live happily with my limbs than be a limbless fraction of a person for the greater good.

"Oh, but you'd be saving the world!"

Yeah, but i wouldn't be able to do shit. Hooray.

[hellboyy]

no its not selfish because its not realistic in the first place. a more realistic question wud be wud u hand over your life savings to feed starving people?

[Sy]

if it was painless, i wouldn't even have to think about it: yes, i would sacrifice myself.

i would like to make the same decision with extreme pain involved too, but i'm a coward, so i maybe wouldn't have the strenght to do it, even if i think it was the right thing to do.

[January]

No.
People need to solve their own problems and work things out together, not wait for someone to magic it away.

A lot of people might say yes to this, but I'm quite sure they would without a doubt, say no if it was truthfully asked of them. People like to be a lot more nice and idealistic when they don't actually have to show that they mean what they say.

Agreed to this.

If we could magic this problem away, only another great problem would manifest itself, say hyper overpopulation. It's not like we don't have way too many people on this planet to begin with..

[Resentful]

Humanity never learns regardless of outcome

No thanks

[Timethief]

First you'd have to consider the ramifications of solving world hunger: population explosion, leading to overpopulation.

Overpopulation is simply too many people living in an area, not necessarily lack of space. The world is a very large place, despite being smaller than an atom compared to the rest of the universe... Our biggest problem isnt exactly world hunger, it's the mass uninhabitable territories. Because of these, people are forced to congregate in areas that are habitable, like sources of water in the very least, assuming crops can be grown there. Deserts, tundras and mountains compose most of the world's surface, which isnt the sole cause of population condensing, jobs are another, but it is a large factor and these areas are extremely difficult to survive in.

Unless solving world hunger includes a system that allows the settling of these areas with greatly reduced monetary cost and ease of labor, it would only exacerbate the situation.

So unless these conditions are met:

1. Terraforming inhospitable territories to support life, and ultimately humans (Creating waterways, bodies of water, vegetation, etc.)
2. Design transportation infrastructure to allow easy access to said areas for travel and industry.

Then solving world hunger would do more harm than good, most likely, in which case I would decline. But if you can do those things, i'm all for it.

[poser765]

I am not Jesus. Why should I sacrifice myself to an extent that is almost complete to others? World hunger (such an 90s thing...i thought global warming was all the rage now) is not my fault nor my responsibility. Maybe that makes me a bastard...it for sure isn't altruistic. It's realistic. What sacrifice are you ok with? where is the line? If you would be willing to sacrifice yourself to end world hunger would you be willing to do it to someone else?

Would you cripple/kill a wealthy person who has never known hunger?
If it would end world hunger would you torture, maim and then kill a starving little Ethiopian girl?
How about a totally random stranger?
How about your own spouse or child?

Again where does is the line drawn? Who should "atone for the sins of the world?" If solving global issues is that important that you would maim or harm yourself then you should be able to say you would do any of those things.

I also echo some of the other posts. It's sure easy to say how much you would sacrifice for the greater good of others, but actually doing are two different things. Fantasy becomes real and you find yourself presented with that problem I have no doubt all the knights in this thread would not be so fast to jump on board.

[Kuntantee]

well i only die/let my legs and hands cut/<insert a disgusting idea> for my family dude for rest, i dont give a s***

[Zandalarian Paladin]

Call me selfish, but if I live, it's to enjoy life, not to be a man who can barely do his things... How could I work or go to school, draw, dance and all that stuff (and even play wow!) without legs and arms? It's just -- no.

[noteworthynerd]

While I do not mind helping people, I wouldn't be able to go through with such an operation, pain or no pain... It is only human nature to want what is best for yourself, and only after what is best for other people... Those of you who say you would, I doubt that very much if this were not a hypothetical situation - it is easy to say "Of course!" when the decision isn't actually sitting in front of you.

I donate blood; and I've been thinking about putting my name on the bone-marrow registry, not to mention, I'd quickly donate a kidney or part of my liver to a loved one, but truthfully, there's no way I would allow the removal of all my appendages, sorry starving people. =(

[Flaks]

No becuse if my arm was the problem for world hunger i bet someone will attack me and cut it off anyway.

I agree with this statement.

If only I knew that I could solve world hunger this way I'd probably slip up sometime and someone else would get to me eventually. I'd never have to do it on my own.

[Crownos]

No.
People need to solve their own problems and work things out together, not wait for someone to magic it away.

A lot of people might say yes to this, but I'm quite sure they would without a doubt, say no if it was truthfully asked of them. People like to be a lot more nice and idealistic when they don't actually have to show that they mean what they say.

^ This pretty sums up my answer and nope i wouldnt. Not in this era anyway, selfish as it seems no thank you a life without limbs is a life not worth living for me anyways...

Until the day comes when we get highly advanced robotic limbs to replace lost or broken ones i wouldnt come forward for this but if we were in the future and had the technology to give myself robitic arms and legs to perform just as well as mine do now then i would in a heart beat. but until that day comes my answer is no :P