Push the button, let me know

[davywavy]

It's an old moral quandry. You are shown a button and told that if you press it, someone you've never met will die but you will recieve a million quid.
Originally an idea which made a short story, then a Twilight Zone episode and now the new film from Donnie Darko Director Richard Kelly, it's certainly an interesting question so I'll put it to you:

[Poll #1460349]

Comments

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

It may seem like a finickety question, but I think it's important: where would the money come from? Does it come from some existing source, or is a million pounds of wealth somehow created and then given to me as a result of pushing the button?

I do not believe I could be paid to anonymously kill a random stranger, but I do believe it's possible to put a societal value on a human life. A million pounds would not be anywhere near enough.

All in all, I'd rather not be given the option.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Well, simply printing the money and giving it to you would devalue the currency and we don't want to do that unless we're Gordon Brown or robert Mugabe, so we'll say that you are given a million pounds worth of existing, refined gold, possibly from a top-secret vault held by an anonymous organisation.

[(Anonymous)]

Wasn't printing money to pay the poor to murder random strangers Blair & Bush's policy on Iraq?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

No, but I believe it is the basic principle underlying jobseekers allowance.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

So it comes from an existing source, then. I'll pass.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Okay, another alternative. If you press the button, a random stranger standing nearby will be struck by a meteorite made of exactly £1m worth of solid gold - which you get to keep.The gold is from outer space and has in no way interacted with the human economy before now.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

That was another question I wanted to ask: would I have proof of the stranger's death?

Can we change it from gold to something with more practical social and industrial applications, like pure lithium? The actual value of gold is a bit of a controversial subject.

Also I'd need to know who else could push the button and how often. If I refuse to push it, will it be offered to someone else, who might kill me and everyone I know in a shower of lithium meteorites? If that's the case, I'd rather be custodian of it.

The idea of a device which converts one human life into £1,000,000 of precious minerals, and safeguards all personal contacts of the operator from being the life in question, is quite an interesting one. I'd like it to be more efficient before I use it, though.

[hiromasaki.livejournal.com]

Actually, Gold is very valuable in electronics. Lots of physical electrical contacts are plated in gold in order to get a low-resistance connection. Plus some traces on circuit boards.

If I were to get £1,000,000 worth of a mineral, though, I'd want it to be good ol' Al. I'll need some way to transport all the caffeine I'd be buying. :P

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

You would have no immediate proof; if you wanted such, you would have to go looking for it yourself.

Ultimately, the way the original setup is constructed, you're given the button and told what will happen if you push it. If you choose to push it, you will receive £1m in whatever form or denomination you specify. You're told someone will die but if you want proof? Well, you'll certainly be rich enough to fund a fact-finding expedition.