Would you press the red button?

Community General Discussion
1

The situation:
The Covenant is approching,the last defense of the planet is an Havoc class nuclear device.
The problem:
Your the commanding officer and you have the choice between activate the bomb killing 2 million civilans but you could stop the enemy movment for 34 houres and allow UNSC forces to evacuat other planets or would you not detonate and continouing the evacuation but it risking the life of other people on diffrent places?
The choice lays by you,theres noone who will help you.
Could you life with the knowledege killing millions but also saving millions?

2

> 2535408730995228;1:
> The situation:
> The enemy is approching,the last defense is an Havoc class nuclear device.
> The problem:
> Your the commanding officer and you have the choice between activate the bomb killing 2 million civilans but you could stop the enemy movment for 34 houres or would you not detonate and continouing the evacuation but it risking the life of other people on diffrent places?
> The choice lays by you,theres noone who will help you.
> Could you life with the knowledege killing millions but also saving millions?

1- You have not fully/clearly defined the stakes in the hypothetical. Is this just one enemy guy approaching your personal residence where you alone reside? I mean, i know people value their pets, but collecting ant farms?

2- What does this have to do with Halo? Can this be couched more in terms of activating a Halo in order to decimate an impending flood threat?

3

> 2533274894783242;2:
> > 2535408730995228;1:
> > The situation:
> > The enemy is approching,the last defense is an Havoc class nuclear device.
> > The problem:
> > Your the commanding officer and you have the choice between activate the bomb killing 2 million civilans but you could stop the enemy movment for 34 houres or would you not detonate and continouing the evacuation but it risking the life of other people on diffrent places?
> > The choice lays by you,theres noone who will help you.
> > Could you life with the knowledege killing millions but also saving millions?
>
>
> 1- You have not fully/clearly defined the stakes in the hypothetical. Is this just one enemy guy approaching your personal residence where you alone reside? I mean, i know people value their pets, but collecting ant farms?
>
> 2- What does this have to do with Halo? Can this be couched more in terms of activating a Halo in order to decimate an impending flood threat?

1.True,will edit it.
2.In general discussion many things are allowed,even if they have nothing to do with Halo.

4

> 2535408730995228;1:
> The situation:
> The Covenant is approching,the last defense of the planet is an Havoc class nuclear device.
> The problem:
> Your the commanding officer and you have the choice between activate the bomb killing 2 million civilans but you could stop the enemy movment for 34 houres and allow UNSC forces to evacuat other planets or would you not detonate and continouing the evacuation but it risking the life of other people on diffrent places?
> The choice lays by you,theres noone who will help you.
> Could you life with the knowledege killing millions but also saving millions?

In this situation, what is the risk? An invading force will not simply kill all civilian inhabitants simply to eliminate them, unless to eat them (given this is a civilian population, not a threat). Otherwise it’s just a huge mess to clean up. In the covenant’s case, I imagine bthey would likely be seeking to enslave the populace, thereby turning the humans into a resource to benefit the covenant.

So, the question then becomes, would i choose to end the lives of 2 million free persons in order to avoid (postpone?) the enslavement of, let’s say, 4 million? Is there any other expected tactical benefit aside from the delay? Also consider the other things destroyed the blast. Finally, the hypothetical paints the covies as a totally dominating, and inevitable, force. In that situation i don’t think there’s any way that the red button would be the best choice to benefit the whole.

5

The Trolley Problem: Halo Edition

6

An friend of me has also an opinion about this question

> would I press the button to save millions of people, but at the cost of 2 million? Yes, for the greater good and it would buy us more time for the unsc to generate a plan on a counter attack so it could save even more people with these tactics. Sure, it would be extremely rushed, but it’s better than having the risk of having a large force steamrolling the unsc with countless losses for humanity

7

Your english is hard to read.I am confused.

8

JohannDB
The Trolley Problem: Halo Edition by Nate
My post in one sentence.

9

I would light that sucker up…im just hoping I kill more covenant then I do civilians…gotta keep that KD up.

10

Press the button. I have no emotions lol so might as well.

11

Sacrifices must be made. Make the ONI move.

12

> 2535408730995228;8:
> JohannDB
> The Trolley Problem: Halo Edition by Nate
> My post in one sentence.

What the Heaven(see what I did there)is that?

13

I’d do it because, well, this.

14

This is NOT the Trolley problem.

> 2533274850752370;12:
> > 2535408730995228;8:
> > The Trolley Problem: Halo Edition by Nate
> > My post in one sentence.
>
>
> What the Heaven(see what I did there)is that?

The Trolley Problem is a moral dilemma situation, where the failure to act leads to multiple deaths, and intervening action leads to the deaths of different people though fewer in number than would die from your inaction.

The given hypothetical is not the same as the Trolley dilemma, for multiple reasons. It’s hardly even analogous. Though some seem to think it is.
Open the spoiler if you care to understand.

For those wondering why it’s not the same:

  1. The OP’s hypo does not state that anyone will die, unless YOU are the one that does the killing!

  2. If action is taken, there’s no guarantee that additional people will be “saved”, unlike Trolley.

  3. Assuming the desired act of the covenant is to kill everyone (thereby negating point 1), THEN it’s a situation dealing with inevitable and identical deaths regardless of your action or inaction. I.e. that entire civilization will die within the next day. There is no shifting of death from one person to another. This interpretation of the OP’s hypo is the farthest from Trolley. It presents virtually zero moral dilemma.

Therefore, no matter how you slice it, interpret the ambiguities, etc., this is NOT the Trolley problem.

15

Try to stop the Covies with your mongoose. If that doesn’t work, panic and accidentally push the button.