Heroic sacrifices, the great person theory of history, and you.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

How the heck is she supposed to PROMISE to discover something else? She can only promise to try.

I have no idea how she’s supposed to promise to discover something else–is that the only interpretation of my words you can imagine? Of course I’d ask no such thing. If she were confused, I’d be happy to clarify.

Anyway, I doubt the question is worth asking. It’s like Alfred saying to Batman, “Mr. Wayne! You’re too wounded to fight the Joker and his minions tonight! You must let the orphans die!”

If it’s like that, the alternative is to drug Batman, preventing him from saving the orphans but saving his life. I’d hate to be Alfred when Batman woke up from that.

[MrDibble]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

Regarding volunteering, your reasoning is the opposite of mine. If my wife & kids are back on Earth, I’m going to insist on going. I’d be saving them, not Earth.

I’ve been kinda assuming the mission is going to succeed whether I volunteer or not. With family, I want to see them afterwards. No family, I volunteer so someone with family gets to see theirs.

[RTFirefly]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

Note that this is a fantasy hypothetical; note who wrote the OP. If you don’t like these but are still reading, you are clearly a masochist, a malcontent, or some sort of elf.

There have been restaurants I really liked that went downhill after awhile. Of course, for awhile during the decline, you keep going there, because for awhile the food is still pretty good, and very good if you know which menu items to stick with. Then after awhile the restaurant sucks enough that even the tried-and-true items are just passable. And you make another visit or two because you keep on hoping the restaurant will find its mojo once again, but eventually you stop going at all.

Question: at which point did you become a masochist?

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

How the heck is she supposed to PROMISE to discover something else? She can only promise to try…

I know someone who’d disagree with you: Do. Or do not. There is no try. - YouTube

[bump]

@dracoi

As for volunteering: I didn’t pick any of the poll options. I would not be the first to do it, but if we’re looking around the room and everyone else says absolutely not, then I’d be willing to step up. It’s more my wife I’d be thinking of than myself and maybe there are enough single people who would step up first. Dying to save the planet and a super-genius sounds is not my first choice, but if it has to be me, I’d do it.

That was my thought exactly… if Toby asks for volunteers, and gets 25 volunteers before I can raise my hand all the way up, then great. If it’s crickets… then I’d volunteer.

The big question though, is how vital Cree is to the mission. If there’s some reasonable chance that her intelligence or skill might be vital to its success, then by all means, she ought to be there- one person vs. billions. Cue the Spock quote. But if she’s just wanting to be in charge because she’s the Commodore of your little fleet, and there’s no technical reason she needs to be involved, then she needs to delegate that to volunteers, or even appoint people if need be.