ANSWERS: 100
  • I don't believe in killing,period,,so no I would not kill.As well how would ,or could I be sure that a thousand would perish,by killing one person!
  • Yes i will even sacrifice myself to save thousands of people.I will also Kill the culprit who harms 1000 people
  • I couldn't kill anyone in this lifetime. But for the sake of answering, I'd kill the one threatening the lives of thousands. It's almost a fair trade...
  • An age old conundrum, asked in various ways by myriads of people. Is there an answer? Yes...and no...I would not kill one to save 1000, becuase I do not believe that the death of any one human could save the lives of so many others...yet, if it were possible, I would volunteer myself, as did Maximilian Kolbe: (Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest who died as prisoner 16770 in Auschwitz, on August 14, 1941. When a prisoner escaped from the camp, the Nazis selected 10 others to be killed by starvation in reprisal for the escape. One of the 10 selected to die, Franciszek Gajowniczek, began to cry: My wife! My children! I will never see them again! At this Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and asked to die in his place. His request was granted ...http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/upper/271/Kolbe.htm) and like Jesus, who died on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of humanity. As in Romans 5 "7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
  • I wouldn't kill one U.S. soldier to save 1000 terrorists but I would do the opposite.
  • Only if it was myself. No one has any right to decide the fate of anyones life but their own...
  • In that situation - who knows what one can do? Firstly the word kill - can't ever think of killing - but if i had to, then the motive of saving a thousand lives would be good enough. Or would it? the thousand - who are they? Reworded - would i kill one decent person to save a thousand horribly evil ones...well then... or maybe its just an anonymous decision - to rescue a thousand innocents on one side would i let go of one innocent on the other? Maybe...but what right do i have to decide who deserves to live and who deserves to die?
  • I hope so.
  • maybe, it would depend on the circumstances. if it were someone who deserved to die then yes. if it were me there'd be a good chance i would give my life.
  • It depends on the person. A gangster... maybe. George Bush... nah, America would get overrun or something like that.
  • If their immediate lives were in danger then I think I could. If I were on a mission in the army during a war and was assigned to take out say, Osama, then I could probably do that too. But I couldn't assassinate someone in cold blood, like a leader of a country or something like that. I also couldn't kill someone who told me that that they were going to kill a thousand people, like in a school shooting. In that case I would let the police handle that situation.
  • Yes I would. If I had a suicide bomber or any other kind of terrorist threatening human life I would and could kill them
  • i would volunteer myself to save a thousand but if this request was denied then i would kill the one person. if it saved a thousand people, i wouldnt even have to think twice whatever option you choose life is still in your hands i'd rather save the lives of 999 people.
  • No I wouldn't, no matter good or bad of a person I am or how good or bad I think the other person is; I don't have the right to take the life of another regardless.
  • It depends. If it's killing your brother to save a hundred murderers, NO. But if you're talking about heroic, someone's lying on the ground, and you can kill him, and if you don't, he'll kill a hundred innocent people, than yes, I would.
  • Aye..If it were someone I didn't like ;)
  • Although I would rather not kill if a way could be found to save all ... but the saying among rescue workers goes, "you save the ones you can in the ways you can." Look what that exact act did for the reputation of the Ninja ... for thousands of years they were deeply honored and respected healers and priests, then they choose to assassinate a few dozen leaders of the few dozen city states, to unite Japan via the Shogun, against China and Korea, without losing hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives in an even longer drawn out civil war fight for a one city supremecy rule. The Ninja saved many but are now shunned and remembered for the few they mercilessly slew.
  • Depends on who the 1 was and who the thousand were. An innocent baby and 1000 jihadists, no, the other way around, yes, without blinking an eye.
  • If that person is me,yes.
  • No. I would not. I would give up my life for others, but I would not take someone else's. I would leave it in God's hands.
  • are you volunteering to be the one?
  • Certain theories of responsibility would hold you accountable for either outcome, as it was a choice you had. Whatever choice you make, you become responsible for that. In that situation, either the death of one is on your hands, or the death of a 1000. In that situation, it would be a judgment call as to who was the most deserving of living. This is very similar to a question I asked on my philosophy forum a couple of days ago - http://www.belief.co.za/viewtopic.php?t=6
  • No, I'm a chicken. I cannot even kill a fly, furthermore a person. But I would give up my life to save a thousand, even one hundred.
  • "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" -Spock Would I be able to? If I was sure of the outcome, if I knew it was for the greater good?...Probably. (Hopefully I'll never have to make that decision)
  • Yes. Without hesitation. The problem is most times you really don't know if it will or not.
  • It depends on the situation.
  • Depends, I would never kill a couple people in the world, (my friend and my cousin) to save any amount of people, but besides that, yes.
  • Utilitarianism would suggest yes. This is a great problem - check out the "Trolley Problem" and its variants. Very similar but gets more and more complicated!
  • I'd like to think so, yes. But that's too idealistic. Could I really kill my love, my own child, or even my mother to save thousands of strangers?
  • We had this sad experience in Russia- my country, and that`s why my answer is- NO, NEVER
  • it depends
  • edit: stupid browser!
  • That would depend entirely on the circumstances.
  • It depends on who that person was. My son or any member of my family...hell no. Id kill myself in a minute to save a thousand though.
  • Almost not but.. would I kill one person to save a thousand that included my family. Yes.
  • NO, I would not. But I would give up my own life. I don't feel I have the right to kill but I can freely give my own life for the benefit of others.
  • edit: switching to firefox!
  • I'd kill One thousand people, and then kill the one person too. Oh and their top 8.
  • Would I kill one person to save a thousand. For me, I've almost died myself on benefit to save the thousand people who would be affected by my death. For a cause, to explain with such passion that truly "drugs are bad," or just as a general support to my friend's lives. I'm usually a pretty funny guy, but that humor comes from me being angry at ideas or people. I don't think too highly of myself, so I'm always willing to do everything it takes to benefit my friends, even (and almost has, and if it continues, probably will) been at the cost of my life. Do I do it for the fame? No, a lot of people still don't know who I am. Do I do it for the friendship? No, a lot of these "friends" leave me out. Do I do it just so I can hear somebody say "thanks?" No. I've never truly been thanked by an individual for saving them on their final string. ...I don't do it so one day they will help me; they never do, and I don't do it as the idea of "Be the change in this world you wish to see." I do it because it's the only thing I can do in my life. If it weren't for me doing everything I can to save these people, I would be literally sitting on the couch watching TV. My life seems to have been screwed over, and all I can do to keep sane and intact with people is help them out with deep thoughts. I hear it again and again, "Of course! I'd sacrifice one to save one thousand... I'd even sacrifice myself!" But when the time comes around, they ALWAYS pick the one 100%. Truly, it takes a different kind of person to pick the thousand over the one, you just know it when you're that one. There is one final key point I make, and that is who the one is. If the one was the hero to save the world, and the others were just idle people... Would I choose the one? I spent night after night thinking about that, and I think I would. That one hero himself would save millions. But he would never want you to choose him over the others. The hero realizes he is just one person in the big universe, but it is that understanding that makes him worth a thousand lives. So does that make me 'the hero'? If People would accept me more as a friend and not just some random, funny, but most of all-- their stereotypical views; a sloppy, dimwitted, sex-craved GUY, I could guarantee my, and the planet's, life that I would save a million lives for the thousand others killed on my behalf. But I would never say that on the record, it's something that'd just happen. Not a renown campaign, not even myself wanting to be a hero. Just something I'd do to pass the time. Would I kill one person to save a thousand, but thus lose 9 million, 899 thousand people? I can't answer that.
  • No. Killing is wrong and disrespectful. Even if the "one person" were George Bush and the "thousand" were Nobel Peace Prize winners, I would still have to decline...despite the visceral temptation to do otherwise.
  • I've served in the service--Army Ranger from '80-'87,, I've been in several combats,,and have seen some of my friends die....But in order to help the freedom of others no matter what country they are in---if u kill 1 or 100,,in order to give 10's of 1,000's there freedom.... YES---it is the right thing ta do
  • Insufficient data for a meaningful answer. 1.) Who is the one person that has to die (an innocent? a criminal? a sociopath)? 2.) Who are the thousand who get to live (Will their collective contribution to society be more valuable than the person who lives)? 3.) How do I have to kill this person (e.g.; lethal injection, torture, duel to the death)? 4.) What risks (criminal prosecution, reprisals against me or my family) do I face in committing this killing? 5.) What are the broader ramifications for the commission of this murder (I may save the thousand people currently imprisoned by a despotic ruler, but the resulting civil war may cost many more lives in the long run)?
  • I would remove one bad apple to save a thousand good apples, but it would serve no purpose to remove one good apple trying to save a thousand bad ones.
  • If I was killing one evil person to save 1,000 good ones, then yes.
  • If not killing that person meant the deaths of one thousand other people, I would kill him. The doubt and fear and negativity of the action would follow me for the rest of my life, but I'd at least have the knowledge that 1000 other people are alive and well because of what I did.
  • Do I get to choose the person?
  • could i just pick myself? i couldn't kill another - sorry but thou shalt not kill never got any plainer for me in life and i'm willing to stick with that idea.
  • These kinds of questions beg for context, but since it is lacking, I will answer YES anyway. The converse of the question would be would you allow a thousand people to die to save one person?, and I think the obvious answer to that is NO.
  • just imagine if the situation was an unsovlable one, except for the death of this one person, and imagine, that one person was your child !! could you , would you, I dont think I could.
  • On principle, it is too easy to say "No," since we live in a world where the answer is "Yes." Since March 19, 2003, 3,973 soldiers have died in Iraq, lives sacrified for the sake of fellow Americans. Considering today's U.S. population, 1 soldier has been killed for every 75,796 citizens. Consequently, this question is asked after the decision has already been made to exchange the lives of a few for the many. The question should be: "What are the limits of this ratio? Is one for every thousand too much? Perhaps. One in every 76,000 too little? I don't know...Perhaps that decision is for the people who think this question hasn't already been answered by the logic of political action.
  • As long as the one isn't a child. It would be definitelyt acceptable if the one was me. I would gladly give my own life for a thousand as well.
  • No. Because I think the Earth is overpopulated. I'm not evil or anything just thinking about the greater good for the planet. I just think you shouldn't have more than two children. Its about quality not quantity people!... am I carazy?
  • If the one person was trying to kill the thousand people.
  • I don´t think that it is right to kill someone for the greater good. Even that person has feelings and is human enough to have rights.
  • Would that one person be worth a 1000 another men? Very well could be. - How about, will there ever be a day when 1001 men will be able to choose thier own fates?
  • It depends. If my mom were the one person and the 1000 were strangers, I would let 1000 die.
  • Would you kill four thousand to save four million?
  • Not if each had $1.00. ;-)
  • It depends on who I have to kill, and who im saving and why. Would I kill my mother or my best friend to save 1000 strangers? No I wouldn't. Would I kill one stranger to save 1000 other strangers? Yeah, maybe. But like I said, it would depend on what brought us to this.
  • no... i dont think it morally right... its like utilitarianism... just like what they did to Jesus... thinking it would benefit the greatest number...
  • Of course, you would have to be a selfish bastard to not!! This is hypothetical right? You have to do one or the other? I will off anybody, family included to save 100, for a 1000 I'll do myself!!
  • I would not kill one to save a thousand BUT if you will teach that one the error of his ways and you wont kill anyone but you will save 1001 and one means one more soul as been saved
  • only if the person dying was myself.
  • I believe that the best answer to this would be what action (either killing one for a thousand or a thousand for one) would produce the happiest outcome. for if one person died for a thousand then those one thousand families would be full of joy that their loved ones were still alive while this action would only leave one grieving family.And what is one grieving family to a thousand joyful ones?
  • I think so
  • Every life is sacred no matter who owns the life
  • To answer this question simply-yes I would.
  • It depends on the person. I would kill a thousand desk jockeys to save Martin Luther King.
  • No. I don't think I could. I am not capable of determining the value of these people. I would not be able to decide that the one was of less value than any or all of them.
  • no, i have no right to kill one person just to save more. logically it would seem like the right thing to do but if the opportunity ever came i wouldnt be able to do it, i wouldnt be able to kill someone
  • Yes, i would. it would be the hardest thing that i would ever have to do, and it would be hard to live with myself after killing someone, but it would be harder living knowing that you chose not to save 1,000 lives. I couldn't stand being that selfish
  • Circumatances has happened many times like this in the past, and I am sure they will continue. Many times, it is terrible that the one that must die is a very good person. But it has to happen.
  • i could if the one person was a stranger,but not if they were a freind and if they were an enermy than i'd enjoy it.
  • Depends from the situation. If the ONE would be precious for me, then I would have to look, who are the other 1000 who I could save, maybe there would be some people I love too. It would be a difficult situation..
  • sure -
  • That would be ethical thing to do.
  • Yes. By all means. Unless it is in reference to the war we are currently in.
  • In the military thats the right choice seems crule but its a fact of life
  • Yes. And I would also kill a thousand people to save one person.
  • i would
  • As a Christian, I believe in the 10 commandments. The 5th says, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" period. Not "Thou Shalt Not Kill...except". Why can't people realize that? Are most people today non-believers? Are or they cafteria style Christians? I'll have some of that, but not that and certainly none of that.
  • I assume the person I kill will not be saving a thousand pediophile serial killers? Then the answer is yes.I have often thought how I would have been honored to put a bullet through Adolph Hitler's head prior to 1933 and saved millions. Of course the evil intent has to be there. Suppose a guy designed a faulty building similar to the World Trade Center and it collapsed in a 60 MPH wind and killed the thousand. Much as I would want to prevent the deaths the evil intent would be lacking and I see no way I could justify the killing.
  • Let's go with math. All life is meaningless. Thus life = 0 1 life = 1*0 = 0 1000 lives = 1000*0 = 0 1 life = 1000 lives So, depending on how much I like the one person, how much I like the other thousand, and what kind of mood I'm in.
  • I have known some people that would kill for 50 cents alone. And they would attend the funeral to collect the two pennies from the victims eyes. If the person to be killed was a dedicated doctor and the thousand murders, rapists and thugs, the answer would be no. But to kill the likes of Ted Bundy, John Gacey, Hitler, it would please me to put a bullet through them to save even one. But the big problem is that no one really knows until history plays out. You just don't know a person will commit murder or genocide until they do it. We know it's not so now. But what if by killing 6 million Jews a billion people might have lived? And else wise had not those 6 million died, Israel might never existed and someone else could have come along and killed any surviving Jews? I know, pretty sickening I see where there might be benefits in their deaths. One thing I am certain of though. They did not die without purpose. And that purpose the survival of Jews today and in the future. And I thank them. Without their sacrifice we just might have lost WWII. So their lives counted for that result as well. Can you imagine what the outcome if Einstein, and others remained and had worked for Hitler treated as equal German citizens? Fortunately Hitler was an idiot. That slave labor and starvation supplied Germany with defective weapons.
  • Not only would I kill one to save a thousand but I would kill a thousand to save one
  • Yes - without hesitation.
  • It really depends on the kind of person you are... but as for me i would. The greater amount of good for the greater amount of people must be done.
  • I would hope I never have to find out.....until faced with I wouldn't know my actions....
  • Probably. If I could choose the person to die, I would choose myself. Amodern Martyr
  • Yes, I would sacrifice one person to save a thousand. Althought it is highly unlikely that I would ever be forced to make a decision like that. It would be a terrible choice, and very difficult to make, but I think it would be worth it.
  • Depends on who that one person is. If it was a loved one, no. Id let a Million strangers be slaughtered if it would save one loved one. however if it was a stranger I had to kill to save 1000 strangers.. That single stranger would be killed without hesitation.. call me a monster if you will.. I don't care.
  • It would depend on who the person I'd have to kill was.
  • Never.
  • It depends on the group of a thousand that I could save and the one who will pay the ultimate price. For example, in WWII, if you told me that if I shot an innocent child I would save 1000 Nazi soldiers, I would let the Nazis die and save the one. But assuming everyone in the group is good, including the one that had to die, I would like to think that I would volunteer to be the one to die. Impossible to know unless you are faced with it.
  • are you kidding? id kill you for a klondike bar! no man jokes, if i knew for certain it would save lifes why not
  • Of course. If, by inaction, a thousand people died, you have killed them as surely as if you had done it by your own hand.
  • if one person would have to die to save 1,000 others i would offer to sacrifice myself. My life is not worth as much as the lives of a thousand others.

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy