Dude, if you let both her children die when you could have saved at least one, your wife is going to kill you.
Youngest to oldest, humans before animals.
They would understand my reasoning…well, except the dog.
My younger brother, then my mom, then my dad. My brother is only 21 and my parents would absolutely freak out and probably refuse to be rescued if he were still in the water. Then I’d save my mom because my dad is stronger and can hold out longer. Then I’d go back for Dad.
I picked two options because my choice is between them. And I would only possibly feel bad if someone didn’t make it. The hesitation depends on the number of loved ones and the amount of time, as well as if a certain person is among them or not.
No, family members other than the ones you specified. To be more precise, my sister’s children.
If you can’t stand to make the choice, you could always teleport the SHARKS out. You’ll likely lose the same number of people, but it will have been in descending order of relative tastiness. That might lessen the guilt somewhat.
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For maximum manliness, you’d set it to teleport out the sharks automaticaly, then jump in the water to fight off the sharks with a combination of pro wrestling moves and a pipe wrench.
The problem with that approach is that, as Oak pointed out early on, people bound and gagged and in the water are going to start drowning quickly; and as I pointed out, the transporter pad, as described, is going to require you to clear it between transports. And sharks are heavy. Your solution probably gets your loved ones killed too.
Can’t we just beam out all the sharks?
Or beam in with a phaser?
Or beam the water out of the tank.
I’m glad we’re using a transporter. I would change the order if I had to lift them myself.
It’s a Star Trek: Enterprise era transporter, which can do only one person at a time and takes many seconds on each cycle. This is on purpose. If it was a NextGen transporter, there’d be no conflict. It’s the same reason you’re asked to imagine yourself with MacGuyver’s talents in the scenario rather than Aquaman’s.
True, I missed post 5. I’d imagine, however, that the sharks would start flopping around comedically once they got dropped on the pad, jumping up to about face level and biting the air. They’d probably clear themselves off long before the cycle was ready to run again.
Unless they broke the round yellow part on the bottom. Is that a crucial part of transporter technology?
Since I’m McGuyvering, can I start by teleporting something in that would produce a mild electric current, which would distract and confuse the sharks, without causing lasting harm to the victims? Or perhaps some kind of concussive attack that would stun the sharks?
Pity you don’t have the bad guy already. You could teleport him in, and rely on shark’s well known sense of poetic justice to assume they’d target him first. Then you’d say something like ‘He always did have good taste.’ and you could fish out the loved ones at your leasure. Probably in montage format, set to something by Journey.
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Because if I’m forced to play by the rules as dictated, I’d have to admit that a) there would be a depressingly small number of hostages, and b) the ones I’d be expected to save first are the one’s I’d prefer to save last, and c) I’d save the ones I’m expected to save first anyway, because I’m a pussy. All three of those thoughts are profoundly depressing.
My partner first, no question.
Then the cats. Yes, I have a favorite, but I won’t say which, in case they read this.
Then my partner’s dogs.
Excellent answer.
Shark brains aren’t.
Beam out the tank.
And btw by TOS they were beaming more than one person at a time.
If you beaming the sharks, nothing says you have to beam them to the pad. You can put them back in their native habitat, or space, whichever.
I didn’t write TOS. I wrote ENTERPRISE, as in the Scott Bakula series. I agree that Kirk’s transporters could have effected the rescue easily, and Picard’s could probably have gotten fancy and removed the shark brains.
Stole my answer. 
I started to click the “I only love one human” button, but that’s not true. I have nephews, and it’d kill me to see one of them hurt, but Celtling first just goes without saying. Nephews next. Mom and Bro can exercise their dysunction to keep the sharks unmotivated and depressed until I get to them. 
Didn’t see this poll before - I voted “I’d hesitate at first, but I’d choose” - child, wife, anyone else, in that order. Not because I love my child more, but because if I save the wife first and not the child, my life is measurable in milliseconds…
I’m tempted to beam out a chunk of the tank to drain off the water, but I’m not sure that leaving my loved ones atop a pile of huge thrashing bitey sharks is an improvement.
Playing it straight, daughter first then wife. Not sure about the rest of the family but I’d have to see how it was going by then. Probably nieces and nephews.
Everyone in the family would agree that Granddaughter comes first. But I’d feel bad afterward, not because I saved her first, but because of anyone else I wasn’t able to save.
The next two would be my daughters, but it would be difficult to impossible to decide between them. I know which one would elbow her way to the front of the line, though.
Husband and son-in-law come last. There’s a dilemma – husband is old, like me, so has fewer years left anyway, and of course granddaughter needs her daddy. But I’m more than a little bit fond of the old guy after close to 50 years together.
I have only loved one, so it’s an easy choice. But I don’t do public polls so didn’t vote. (And those other 10,000 can still all drop dead.)