# Things you'd sacrifice the life of a stranger for **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2001, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520 "2001-04-27T10:51:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/1 "2001-04-27T10:51:45Z")
Is there anything other than the preservation of another life (or lives) that you would sacrifice the life of a perfect stranger for? You don’t have to kill the person yourself or even know who they are, you just agree ‘Yes I want this that much’ and a random human being drops dead ahead of their time. This doesn’t have to be a material thing or anything that could practically be achieved via other means. You could wish for eternal perfect health, or for every religious person to wake up the next day an atheist, or whatever. I guess I don’t place much value on human life. I’d probably do it for money, and not incredibly large amounts either - I wouldn’t for $10,000, I’d think about it for $100,000, and I know I’d do it for a million. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/2 "2001-04-27T11:23:47Z")
Money? Feh. Get between me and NuTella or a Toblerone and you’re toast. ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/3 "2001-04-27T11:36:24Z")
If I could choose the person that would die I would be a lot cheaper to buy. However, if the person that would die was completely random, that would make me pause and I don’t think I would do it. I’m not that hung up on money (I have enough of that). There are ways you could tempt me, but… …Well, now that I think a bit more about it, there are probably quite a few ways to make me give up a human life… It would have to do with someone falling in love with me or so… Not moneywise. Yuck! Creepy, I didn’t think I was like that. Thanks a lot **Badtz** ☹ ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/4 "2001-04-27T12:23:16Z")
Nothing. Now, if I could _choose_ the person, I might be a little more likely to play. “Timothy McVeigh for $100, Alex” ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/5 "2001-04-27T12:45:04Z")
A really good cheeseburger, a good night’s sleep, a new yo-yo. There are plenty of people out there. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kaotic\_Newtral](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@Kaotic\_Newtral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaotic_Newtral)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/6 "2001-04-27T16:09:32Z")
This is kind of easy for me. If I didn’t know the person who died I’d ask for something simple. Random people die all of the time. Although if I could only do it once I’d ask for something big. Lifelong happiness for my daughter would be a good wish. If I could rely upon this magic unlimited, I’d probably use it to get chicken nuggets a couple of times a week. If I could pick the person to die and there weren’t any consequences, It wouldn’t take much for me to offer my ex-wife up. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/7 "2001-04-27T18:07:11Z")
Now, how would your answer be affected if you knew ahead of time that YOU are part of the pool of potential victims? ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/8 "2001-04-27T22:02:51Z")
Well, I think I can say there is no amount or object for which I would kill a complete stranger; however, if I could _pick_ the person, I’d be willing to spend upwards of $10,000. 😃 [sub]Seriously though, I was watching _Grosse Point Blank_ and thinking “I could do that” the whole time. It’s not that I have psychotic or violent tendencies or anything, heck, I’ve never been in a fight in my life, but I think I could snuff someone if I chose to.[/sub] **DISCLAIMER** : I have no intention of killing anyone, now or in the future. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/9 "2001-04-27T22:25:55Z")
The world doesn’t work that way, IMHO. I believe in accountability and that this world is a really small place. If I wish a random stranger’s death so I can have some really adorable shoes, or a perfect-fitting pair of jeans, who knows that I may have needed this person in my life one day? ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/10 "2001-04-27T23:57:38Z")
Wasn’t there a Twilight Zone episode on this premise? If you press the button, you get a million dollars and a someone you don’t know will die? And then he takes the box away to give to someone who doesn’t know you… ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/11 "2001-04-28T00:21:00Z")
I never saw the Zone episode, **Kat** , but there was definitely a short story on it. I remember neither the title nor the author, but I think it was Isaac Asimov, as a quarter-assed guess. Stranger offers fellow a box with a single button. Push the button, and he gets a million bucks or somesuch, and someone dies. It’s stressed it won’t be anyone he knows or has ever met. He spends the story agonizing, then finally pushes the button. No fireworks or anything, the stranger just gives him the money, takes the box. “Now what?” protagonist dude asks. “Now the button goes to someone else to make the same choice. But don’t worry about that. It won’t go to anyone you know.” Short and effective. The proper answer is nothing, get thee behind me. Certain things would of course be sorely tempting–a loved one dying that would be cured by the button press, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/12 "2001-04-28T04:44:32Z")
**Drastic** , how about the cure for AIDS? Or cancer (all types)? One life in exchange for thousands? ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/13 "2001-04-28T19:32:06Z")
Ah, well that veers rather close to GD territory. “Great Debates” == “More emphatic than usual IMHO’s”…IMHO. 🙂 The First Noble Truth is, life is suffering. Life is troubles. No way around that–it’s built into the very fabric of living and being human. Once cancer and AIDS join the troubles-of-the-past file, along with things like dying from appendicitis (yes I’m aware people still do here and there) and smallpox (at least until someone uses some funk military-grade variant on it), other troubles will replace them, some of which we can’t imagine yet. When those troubles are solved–and they will be, because that’s what people are, problem-solvers–other ones will follow. That’s life, and there aren’t shortcuts. But hypotheticals, yes. Let’s look at possibility one: you’re being offered this “receive benefit A for the anonymous sacrifice of X” from someone/something else. Said Something has the power to do A–but _won’t_ unless you personally will the death of another human being? That Something is…well, a _jerk_. Life’s short and precious, I don’t willingly truck with jerks. Possibility two: this hypothetical rests in some hitherto-unexplored bit of natural law, you’ve just happened to discover it. That’s more squarely in a philosophical/ethical debate. My answer’s still no. I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t be enormously tempting to say yes, but ethical behavior isn’t necessarily the easy way. The motto of the “World Game”, from (popularized by?) R. Buckminster Fuller is “To make the world work for 100% of humanity, without ecological offense, through spontaneous co-operation, _to the disadvantage of none_.” Italics mine, here. It is, obviously, an ideal approach to dealing with the problems facing the world, emphasizing non-coercion and a defiance of the “truism” that life is a zero-sum game–both also GD-able, of course, but I know my position. Now tying these bits together–there will always be troubles and problems to solve. And though the process is slow and painful, and leaves suffering in its wake, those problems do get solved once sufficient numbers of people simply gain the will to do so. If the world actually worked by the ability to wave one’s hand, cause some stranger who’s never done you any harm to drop dead (or die slowly, screaming and twisted in agony, as loved ones looked on helplessly–how the hell would you know? And why care, you’ve got your million bucks out of the deal, or get to be the Cancer Slaying Hero, whatever strokes your ego in the right manner)–if the world worked like that, it’d be a worse place. Because you might wish for an end to war. The next person using the option might wish for an end to the filthy darkies. The next person, an end to the white devils, or the “Jewish Bankers”, or for something terrible to happen to the Joneses new boat that’s so much better than his. Then someone from [VHEMT](http://www.vhemt.org/)–without valuing that “Voluntary” bit so much, might thoughtfully rid the poor Earth from the scourge of human reproduction. Hmm. There’s a story in that. Anyway, the answer’s still no. Others will and have say “oh heck yeah! Pass the button!”, and that’s their right. Just be glad there is no button. ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/14 "2001-04-28T20:25:42Z")
S&g’s… nah… I don’t think I’d do a stranger, no telling who they are. I’d have to know more about the person. ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2001, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-youd-sacrifice-the-life-of-a-stranger-for/63520/15 "2001-04-29T06:23:35Z")
World Peace. An end to poverty. Someone to love who loves me back. A pepperoni pizza. (Pizza’s important, dammit.)