# You're the new Emperor of Earth...how many people would you kill? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 1, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198 "2010-02-01T03:21:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/61 "2010-02-14T01:28:49Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I haven’t been able to vote because all joking aside, I would not intend to kill anyone, but I don’t want to say never. This. Also, I’m not sure I’d actually use my god-like powers to KILL, per se. My powers would be like…an extreme form of empathy. I’d have the power to make brutal killers, etc., feel the pain that their victims felt…exactly as their victims would have felt it. They wouldn’t die, or even be physically harmed, but they’d go mad from the experience and then I’d send them to an institution set aside for them. I would also have the power to beat up whoever I wanted to with a baseball bat. Asshole customer at a retail or food service establishment? You’re getting batted. Shouting idiotic comments at people from a moving car? Batted. Hitting on someone who clearly isn’t interested and won’t take “no” for an answer? SO batted. I will also be able to punch people through the phone and the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/62 "2010-02-15T00:42:21Z")
Wow, that’s an interesting graph! Joe ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/63 "2010-02-15T10:41:49Z")
Pretty much all of you are toast. New World Order doesn’t have theists in it am afraid. But am balancing it out by removing China and the Koreas. Japan is cool as is Australia and New Zealand. The rest of Asia is cool. Central Asia is not. The stan republics and the Indian subcontinent spoil my view of the Caucasus and Himalayas. Bye Bye people! France gets a by but with the exception of Southern Italy the rest of Europe not so lucky. North and South Americas are depopulated ( with the exception of the East Coast Northern USA. Canada you’re in too. Middle East and across the Persian Gulf? Sans peeps! Africa? Well you really wouldn’t turn that music down would you? Ethipoia is okay as is Kenya. But there will be no more emails coming out of Nigeria for a while! Namibia gets to expand across the depopulated continent too. hmmm… I spent too long thinking about this. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/64 "2010-02-15T12:48:36Z")
I wouldn’t kill anyone but there would be some people getting sent to prison and/or to reeducation yesterday. Couple bill or so… ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/65 "2010-02-15T17:21:17Z")
There would be a lot of drug dealers/producers, pimps, torturers, child pornographers, and violent criminals dead if I had it my way. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/66 "2010-02-15T17:27:44Z")
I would decide what the proper sustainable population of the planet at our current tech level is, and then ‘turn off’ people’s abilities to procreate for a few generations until the level was met. That way I wouldn’t have to directly kill anyone, but the results would be similar to the death of something on the order of 90% of everyone. Almost every \*modern \*single problem that Humanity has encountered can be traced to an unsustainably large population. Well… all of them expect religious conflicts. This is an interesting question. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/67 "2010-02-15T17:42:27Z")
I am a religious fanatic and understand killing others is against gods law. I have no right to kill others. I answered zero. ---
**Author:** ![culture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@culture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/culture)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/68 "2010-02-15T17:53:42Z")
It is hard to believe that there area less than 10M of the following categories which are on the to-die list: 1. Rapist. 2. Producers of child pornography. 3. Habitual criminals (people who make a living through crime). 4. Murders. 5. Habitual, severe child abusers. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/69 "2010-02-16T01:50:00Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I would decide what the proper sustainable population of the planet at our current tech level is, and then ‘turn off’ people’s abilities to procreate for a few generations until the level was met. > That way I wouldn’t have to directly kill anyone, but the results would be similar to the death of something on the order of 90% of everyone. > Almost every \*modern \*single problem that Humanity has encountered can be traced to an unsustainably large population. Well… all of them expect religious conflicts. > > This is an interesting question. Rubbish. Our planet can support 6.6 billion people and far more. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Mumble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Captain\_Mumble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Mumble)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/70 "2010-02-16T08:23:22Z")
The first toast my father taught me:- “Here’s to me and mine,here’s to you and yours.Fuck them and theirs”. So if you haven’t bought me a drink you’re basically shit outta luck 😛 Mitch ---
**Author:** ![clarkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/71 "2010-02-17T05:51:07Z")
pretty sure i’d pull a noah’s ark type scenario ---
**Author:** ![clarkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/72 "2010-02-17T05:52:35Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I am a religious fanatic and understand killing others is against gods law. I have no right to kill others. I answered zero. read the o.p. again. you are the god, so you can rewrite the law ---
**Author:** ![clarkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/73 "2010-02-17T06:04:39Z")
i’d have every person that attacked another person without provocation exterminated. then if there relatives cried too loudly, them as well. anyone that took advantage of another person to rip them off as well. after the killing subsided, i would do away with currency. everything would be shared by everyone. I’d ban cemeteries. corpses would be used for spare parts, science, and compost. if an earthquake or tsunami or flood destroyed towns etc no rebuilding would be allowed there. reproduction would be a reward, not a right. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198/74 "2010-02-17T06:43:42Z")
> [@meanoldman](#): > > Not all at once, don’t want to have a catastrophe or anything. But I think the world has way too many other men. In a few years, women will find me uber attractive, just because I am one of the few men left. 😉 So, I go into this bar and there’s this lady there and she looks pretty good so I go over to her and ask her if I can buy her a drink. She doesn’t look real happy about it and she tells me “hhmpf; I wouldn’t go out with you if you were the last man left on Earth!” I told her “Lady, if I was the last man left on Earth, you wouldn’t even be allowed in line.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-the-new-emperor-of-earth-how-many-people-would-you-kill/527198.md?page=3)