Life Raft Scenario.

Author: CatholicApologetics

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#1
CatholicApologetics
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I have not come up with the following problem myself, it is a mere copy-paste. The problem is though-provoking and I am curious to know your opinions.

You are on a boat that is sinking. You do not know if there are other life rafts, but the life raft you are on can only hold 9 people apart from you. From the following list, who do you put on the raft and throw off.

  1. A doctor, GP, who has an addiction to drugs and is very nervous
  2. A black Protestant Minister
  3. A prostitute, but is an excellent nurse, she has already saved a drowning child and put him on another lifeboat
  4. A criminal. Charged with murder and can navigate the boat.
  5. A mentally disturbed man, who carries important government secrets in his head
  6. A law-abiding salesman. He sells automatic washing machines and is also a member of the Rotary Club
  7. A crippled boy, paralyzed since birth. He cannot use his hands and is dependent on others.
  8. A housewife with two children at home 
  9. A Jewish restaurant owner, married with 3 children at home
  10. A teacher considered one of the best in England
  11. A Catholic Nun, supervisor of a girl's school 
  12. An unemployed man, formally a professor o literature. He has a great sense of humor and is a decorated soldier for his contribution in the last war and was in a concentration camp for 3 years.
  13. An Irish man studying to be a pharmacist
  14. An Irish woman, studying to be a nursery teacher
  15. An American, he is also a Neo-Nazi and thus hates the Jew. However, he has a large box of food which he will throw into the sea unless he goes into the lifeboat
Good luck.
#2
Best.Korea
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@CatholicApologetics
I am going to give a quick answer:

  1. A doctor, GP, who has an addiction to drugs and is very nervous
  2. A prostitute, but is an excellent nurse, she has already saved a drowning child and put him on another lifeboat
  3. A criminal. Charged with murder and can navigate the boat.
  4. A mentally disturbed man, who carries important government secrets in his head
  5. A housewife with two children at home 
  6. A Jewish restaurant owner, married with 3 children at home
  7. A teacher considered one of the best in England
  8. An unemployed man, formally a professor o literature. He has a great sense of humor and is a decorated soldier for his contribution in the last war and was in a concentration camp for 3 years.
  9. An American, he is also a Neo-Nazi and thus hates the Jew. However, he has a large box of food which he will throw into the sea unless he goes into the lifeboat

Basically, these 9 people all improve odds of survival.

#3
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They make a good story too.
#4
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I always thought GP was a doctor.
#5
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@CatholicApologetics
but the life raft you are on can only hold 9 people apart from you
Well I assume that since "you" is included that you can consider your own skills. I don't need the criminal. Since there are 9 slots and 15 options it's faster to list the people who didn't make it:

1.) A mentally disturbed man, who carries important government secrets in his head - Governments have too many secrets, he is a threat to the rest for mental disturbance
2.) A criminal. Charged with murder and can navigate the boat. - charged is not convicted, convicted is not guilty, but more likely to be a danger to the utility of others in the future.
3.) A doctor, GP, who has an addiction to drugs and is very nervous - without medical tools a doctor is powerless against all serious problems that might arise. The addiction and nervousness mean he may bring down moral and is more likely than others to attack. Furthermore the prostitute will be saved and her medical knowledge (again) without tools might actually be more useful since it would deal more directly with first aid. Also she eats less and is less of a threat.
4.) A law-abiding salesman. He sells automatic washing machines and is also a member of the Rotary Club - From the description of his life position he is the oldest person without a family save for the nun, however a religious person is less likely to have a violent emotional crises in the face of death, even if the probability difference is small.
5.) A crippled boy, paralyzed since birth. He cannot use his hands and is dependent on others. - Less likely to have a good life, and if the raft is overturned by a wave it he would not be able to help or get back in.

6th place depends on the context. There are circumstances where one could be almost certain that without food that people will die, but they aren't as likely as you might think. Many parts of the ocean don't see regular rains and thus everyone would die of thirst first. In most other circumstances if rescue does not occur within two weeks (and almost everyone can survive two weeks without food) it will not come and having extra rations would be pointless. Food would be the difference between life and death if there were oars and the possibility of rowing to land within a week. This would require significant calories.

If the food is necessary for survival invite the neo nazi and then kill him when he sleeps and leave the Catholic Nun behind.

Otherwise save the Nun.

High value people who definitely needed to be saved:
1.) An unemployed man, formally a professor o literature. He has a great sense of humor and is a decorated soldier for his contribution in the last war and was in a concentration camp for 3 years. - Three years in a concentration camp means his tough guy act is likely rock solid. He will minimize the chances of social collapse.
2.) A prostitute, but is an excellent nurse, she has already saved a drowning child and put him on another lifeboat - Like the veteran already shown to handle crises well. Useful skills.
#6
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 A mentally disturbed man, who carries important government secrets in his head - Governments have too many secrets, he is a threat to the rest for mental disturbance
Actually, I was just thinking 10,000 steps ahead and concluded that government will be looking for him and thus, send more search for us.

#7
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@CatholicApologetics
Are you maximizing for survival purposes, or is rescue all but guaranteed, and you are choosing who lives who dies? (who tells your story).
#8
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@Best.Korea
 A mentally disturbed man, who carries important government secrets in his head - Governments have too many secrets, he is a threat to the rest for mental disturbance
Actually, I was just thinking 10,000 steps ahead and concluded that government will be looking for him and thus, send more search for us.
Step 10,001: The government would have no way to know he wasn't on the raft (or any other) without recovering them all.


#9
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@ADreamOfLiberty
Step 10,001: The government would have no way to know he wasn't on the raft (or any other) without recovering them all.
The government would search for him quickly, and if you let him drown, they would find his body and wouldnt search further as much.
#10
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Also, government will be searching for criminal as well. With both being on one boat, government will not stop until it finds that one boat.
#11
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The people I selected are all high value targets for society to send a search for, except prostitute. But even prostitute might prove worthy in keeping things interesting on boat.
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#12
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It's all subjective. You decide what the objective is. Whether you want to ensure as many people live or whether you want to ensure the safety of your own life is up to you.
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#14
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This is who is left for the best chance of my survival. The predominate reason for most being thrown over board is a low survival score and most likely would not contribute anything to the survival of the rest.

  2. A prostitute, but is an excellent nurse, she has already saved a drowning child and put him on another lifeboat


  5. A law-abiding salesman. He sells automatic washing machines and is also a member of the Rotary Club





  11. An unemployed man, formally a professor o literature. He has a great sense of humor and is a decorated soldier for his contribution in the last war and was in a concentration camp for 3 years.


  14. An American, he is also a Neo-Nazi and thus hates the Jew. However, he has a large box of food which he will throw into the sea unless he goes into the lifeboat
Good luck.

#15
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None of them
#16
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All other things equal, I'm going to consider one person as valuable as any other. Now it's mainly a matter of practicality, although I do have some wiggle room to take the outside world into account. (e.g. the people with children) Here's who gets thrown out:

1. A doctor, GP, who has an addiction to drugs and is very nervous

He's going to start experiencing withdrawal, and he's already very nervous. (Thanks to a friend for pointing this out to me.) Nope.

2. A black Protestant minister

Not useful in this situation. I just need to survive, not have a spiritual awakening. Nope.

6. A law-abiding salesman. He sells automatic washing machines and is also a member of the Rotary Club

Ah yes, an automatic washing machine. Just what I needed in this situation. *sarcasm* (Not that he would be able to provide me with one in this situation anyway.) Nope.

7. A crippled boy, paralyzed since birth. He cannot use his hands and is dependent on others.

Do I need to say anything? Nope.

11. A Catholic Nun, supervisor of a girl's school

Same as the minister. Nope.

Alright, now it gets tough. I need to pick one more that won't make it. Here are the main candidates based on practicality in the moment, and then my reasoning based on outside factors for each:

5. A mentally disturbed man, who carries important government secrets in his head

Let's not cause a national scale disaster. He's safe.

8. A housewife with two children at home

If I can avoid killing off mothers I will. She's safe.

9. A Jewish restaurant owner, married with 3 children at home

Same idea as the housewife. They're safe.

10. A teacher considered one of the best in England

They're going to impact a lot of kids. They're safe.

12. An unemployed man, formally a professor of literature. He has a great sense of humor and is a decorated soldier for his contribution in the last war and was in a concentration camp for 3 years.

This is actually a bit of an unusual case. I put him in the candidate list because he doesn't seem to be a practical choice, but we don't currently have any form of mental support, and humor is a remarkably good coping mechanism.

13. An Irish man studying to be a pharmacist

This was a tough one, but he's more likely to save a life than a nursery teacher, even if very indirectly. He's safe.

14. An Irish woman, studying to be a nursery teacher

...so, by process of elimination, nope.

#17
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That's sort of assuming that ones position is assured.

Though all that one should really bother with are 2. and 9.

Food and a good blow job.
#18
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Though all that one should really bother with are 2. and 9.

Food and a good blow job.
hehe, those are the numbers from Best.Korea's post.


From the original 2 and 9 are

A black Protestant Minister
A Jewish restaurant owner, married with 3 children at home

Maybe the minister is repressed and gives good blow jobs but it might be better to keep the restaurant owner alive so he can season the minister.
#19
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Oops.


#20
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Just going for pure survivability i’d say 3, 12 and 15. 

3 being a nurse for physical health.

12 having a good sense of humour for mental health and perhaps having some practical knowledge for surviving. 

15 for food.