# Would you sacrifice the love of your life to spare 10,000 strangers by cancer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 4, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504 "2011-10-04T01:26:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/1 "2011-10-04T01:26:49Z")
Why yes, it IS a silly hypothetical discussion with optional poll. And, yes, the subject IS a sadistic choice. Seriously, did you just meet me? A malevolent and vastly powerful godlike being\* – let’s get down to brass tacks and call him Mephistopheles, okay? – appears to you. After establishing his bona fides in a spectactular and terrifying fashion that leaves no room for doubt[sup]†[/sup], Mephisto tells you that he’s gotten bored while while for the Apocalypse and has decided to spend the afternoon fucking with you[sup]‡[/sup]. Mephistopheles grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you to a convenient magic mountaintop, from which you can see all sorts of interesting things. In paritcular, he draws your attention to 1000 cancer wards. In each of these wards there are several patients-- ten, on average – who will die within a year of one neoplasm or another. Some of the patients are elderly; some are in the prime of their lives; and some are children. All will die in agony. Of course, Mephistopheles says with a laugh, none of these people _have_ to die. The Carpenter could save them without even bothering to wave his hand, but, of course, He won’t, because that’s not how he rolls. But while it won’t be that easy for Mephistopheles, it’s still within his power to restore them all to perfect health; in fact he does so to one of them just to make his point. He’s willing to heal the rest for a price – one only you can pay. _You have to agree to give up your relationship with the one living person whom you most love._ Say the word, and Old Scratch will not only cure the 10,000 dying patients, but also restore their bodies, minds, and hearts to the fullness of health. But he’ll also arrange things so that your beloved (be it spouse, parent, child, or friend) believes that you have consciously and deliberately betrayed them in such an egregious fashion that they’ll never trust you again; in fact, they’ll probably hate you forever. If you refuse, Mephistopheles will shrug and bid you adieu – except that he’ll also send you 10,000 death notices as the people you declined to save perish, and he might well drag you to a few of the most pathetic funerals, as he finds things like that entertaining. Do you give up your relationship with your beloved, or let the 10,000\*\* die? Oh, and don’t wait for the poll. I changed my mind about including one. - I don’t want to hear any crap about it being Athena, either. Athena is kind and loving. Well, not loving. And not kind either, when you get down to it. But She’s not EVIL. See also: Thor. [sup]†[/sup] In fact, let’s say that Phisto just rewrites your neural wiring to MAKE you believe he’s what he says he is, without otherwise changing your personality, morals, and so forth. [sup]‡[/sup] No real reason; you just piss him off. \*\* Okay, I guess it’s technically nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/2 "2011-10-04T01:29:12Z")
Nope. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/3 "2011-10-04T01:36:52Z")
**Skald** , are you one of the cancer patients? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/4 "2011-10-04T01:40:13Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > **Skald** , are you one of the cancer patients? Nyet. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/5 "2011-10-04T01:49:11Z")
When you love someone so much that you would sacrifice _anything_ to save or protect them, I don’t see how stacking the deck with _any_ number of suffering, but still unknown, strangers would convince you to let that person die. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/6 "2011-10-04T01:50:11Z")
“How many men would you kill? A hundred, A thousand?” “I would kill them all.” –Spartacus Which is ironic because Andy Whitfield just died of cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/7 "2011-10-04T01:50:48Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > When you love someone so much that you would sacrifice _anything_ to save or protect them, I don’t see how stacking the deck with _any_ number of suffering, but still unknown, strangers would convince you to let that person die. Do you think it’s a given that everyone, or even all Dopers, loves another person that much? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/8 "2011-10-04T01:51:04Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Nyet. Ok. Now let me think about this for a while. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/9 "2011-10-04T01:54:03Z")
Really this is a dumb hypothetical. It is human nature to put ourselves and our loved ones and people in our immediate circle well ahead of total strangers. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/10 "2011-10-04T01:59:47Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Do you think it’s a given that everyone, or even all Dopers, loves another person that much? No. Perhaps I should have worded my post a bit differently. But when one _does_ love someone that much, the numbers don’t really affect the final decision. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/11 "2011-10-04T02:00:25Z")
Sign me up for a big noperino on this one. Thanks. I wonder how the responses would change if the 10,000 strangers were just normal folks walking down the street who were struck dead by lightning or whatever. I don’t think mine would, but others might. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/12 "2011-10-04T02:00:37Z")
Of course I would. It would be a terrible choice but the only possible one is quite clear. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/13 "2011-10-04T02:03:01Z")
I would personally murder 10,000 to get her back. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/14 "2011-10-04T02:11:05Z")
This world is overpopulated to begin with, so while I have no loved one as such to lose, I’d still let 10k people die. Shame about the agony, though. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/15 "2011-10-04T02:18:31Z")
Nope. I’d pull their plugs myself to keep my husband around if need be. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/16 "2011-10-04T02:28:36Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I would personally murder 10,000 to get her back. +1 ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/17 "2011-10-04T02:30:24Z")
Guess I’d better get my black suit cleaned, it’s gonna be a long year. ☹ ~27 funerals a day ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/18 "2011-10-04T02:32:47Z")
How selfish people are. If this was killing your loved one there might be some reason in this but it is simply they losing your trust in you. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/19 "2011-10-04T02:37:36Z")
Too bad it’s Mephistopheles. No deal with him ever works out. He’s only making this deal because he knows the apocalypse is on its way, and those 10,000 schmucks who you just saved are, every one of them, going to suffer far worse fates than death by cancer in the coming months, while you try and fail to convince your beloved what just happened. There’s a reason why a “deal with the devil” is an idiom. Don’t do it. Meph can do what he wants, but I’m not shaking His hand over anything. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504/20 "2011-10-04T02:38:31Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > How selfish people are. If this was killing your loved one there might be some reason in this but it is simply they losing your trust in you. 1. I think some people didn’t really read the OP. 2. I did read the OP (and answered no), and I’m OK with you thinking I’m selfish. Turns out there’s no impact on my life to what you think about me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-sacrifice-the-love-of-your-life-to-spare-10-000-strangers-by-cancer/598504.md?page=2)