Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: forums - View Single Post - Thought experiment: save your sibling or an unknown alien race?

andrew.v.spencer · 11th January 2007, 05:15 PM

This is a good thought experiment.

Usually human rankings of who you would want to save goes along with closeness of relationship and/or genetic similarity.

1. Family
2. Close friends.
3. Acquaintances you like.
4. City/town (home).
5. Nation
6. Civilization (Let's say the West here, though if you're Chinese it would be the East).
7. Humanity.
8. Aliens.

I suspect that will hold near enough for 90%+ of humans.

Make it a little more real. Your child or the entire populations of India all 1 billion of them. If you're Indian your child or the entire population of America all 300 million of them.

It would be my child I'd save every time.

11th January 2007, 05:15 PM	#6 (permalink)
andrew.v.spencer Dreams of Midnight Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 755	Re: Thought experiment: save your sibling or an unknown alien race? This is a good thought experiment. Usually human rankings of who you would want to save goes along with closeness of relationship and/or genetic similarity. 1. Family 2. Close friends. 3. Acquaintances you like. 4. City/town (home). 5. Nation 6. Civilization (Let's say the West here, though if you're Chinese it would be the East). 7. Humanity. 8. Aliens. I suspect that will hold near enough for 90%+ of humans. Make it a little more real. Your child or the entire populations of India all 1 billion of them. If you're Indian your child or the entire population of America all 300 million of them. It would be my child I'd save every time.