# Hypotherical Question about cannibalism \[edited title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 4, 2014, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370 "2014-10-04T11:24:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silvermist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@silvermist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silvermist)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/1 "2014-10-04T11:24:40Z")
If you were stranded on a desert island with another person and that person died, could you eat them? It could be a friend, relative, spouse or stranger. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/2 "2014-10-04T11:36:34Z")
Probably not if their death was caused by falling into a volcano. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/3 "2014-10-04T12:25:46Z")
No However that is my post breakfast sated answer. Who knows how demented I might become after months or years on the island. ---
**Author:** ![wellanuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@wellanuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wellanuff)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/4 "2014-10-04T15:20:58Z")
I’d rather eat Johnson, sir. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/5 "2014-10-05T00:53:03Z")
Is there barbecue sauce available? ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/6 "2014-10-05T02:02:16Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > Probably not if their death was caused by falling into a volcano. I don’t like my meat well done either. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/7 "2014-10-05T02:39:01Z")
Congrats! You’ve made result #4 on Google by misspelling _hypothetical_. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/8 "2014-10-06T17:04:50Z")
Before they died, were you properly introduced? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![silvermist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@silvermist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silvermist)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/9 "2014-10-06T20:27:58Z")
I asked a serious question and yes hypothetical was misspelled it was a typo. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/10 "2014-10-06T20:32:00Z")
I probably wouldn’t, but would there be enough food available on the island without resorting to eating a dead person? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/11 "2014-10-06T20:48:01Z")
I left the typo, but added info about the thread topic, in the thread title. **silvermist** , please don’t use content-free thread titles like “hypothetical question” [however you might spell it] – indicate what the thread is about. Thanks, **twicks** ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/12 "2014-10-06T21:54:26Z")
Yes, with no qualms. Under those circumstances, meat is meat ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/13 "2014-10-06T22:23:59Z")
Theoretically, although I’m honest enough to admit that it would be a lot harder in reality than sitting here behind a keyboard munching popcorn before dinner. By which I mean, physically, as well as emotionally. I’ve never butchered anything larger than a chicken, and I’m not very good at that. I know nothing about field dressing. I don’t know how to tell if the meat is safe for consumption if it doesn’t have a Sell-By date. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/14 "2014-10-06T22:25:15Z")
Not if it meant I would starve anyway once they were eaten. I don’t think I would anyway. Because I’d have floated them out into the ocean before I got that hungry. So that I wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/15 "2014-10-06T22:49:16Z")
When I was quite young I read the first book about the [Andes flight disaster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Andes_flight_disaster)- plane crash survivors who survived largely because they ate the bodies of some of those who died in the crash. I think if a person gets desperate enough, rules of civilization go out the window. I am sure that if I died on that desert island and the survival of the people with me depended on eating me, I’d want that for them. (Although not for me…heh.) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/16 "2014-10-06T22:54:52Z")
certainly not raw. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypotherical-question-about-cannibalism-edited-title/700370/17 "2014-10-06T22:58:29Z")
If you’re hungry enough, you will eat anything.