What do you think is worse: 1000 dying instantly or 1 dying painfully

25 Comments

Say you have to pick one of the two options:

1. 1000 people will instantaneously die untimely deaths on the spot. They, personally, will not feel a single thing as they go. However, the families will still be affected (ex. a father with a baby girl may die, leaving her and his wife behind).

2. 1 person will die a slow, grueling death at the hands of a drug gang. Various methods will be used to slowly kill the person ensuring the maximum suffering possible.

Which do you think is worse?

1000 dying instantanteous, painless deaths 77
1 person tortured to death 50
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Comments ( 25 )
  • AbnormallyAwesome
    10 years ago | pl

    Seriously? I'm the only one who thinks 1000 is worse then 1?

    I mean the 1000 option would mean that one 1000 people's families will probably suffer longer then that one guy.

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    • disthing
      10 years ago

      You're not the only one.

      I think, as tragic as it is, sometimes numbers matter. There is greater value in 1000 living people than there is in 1, and as such I don't think avoiding the suffering of 1 would be enough to justify the painless death of 1000 others.

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    • GoraIntoDesiGals
      10 years ago

      I think going through real torture is worse than the grief of losing someone to death. This is also something the do-gooders who want to save people from suicide have trouble understanding.

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      • AbnormallyAwesome
        10 years ago

        So would you press a button to kill a thousand people painlessly to save one tortured human being?

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        • GoraIntoDesiGals
          10 years ago

          Yes if the one being tortured is myself xD

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          • AbnormallyAwesome
            10 years ago

            I really hope the "xD" means you are kidding.

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    • [Old Memory]
      10 years ago

      1000 is more, so it is better.

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  • dom180
    10 years ago

    1000 deaths is far, far worse than one death. I think people tend to place too much importance on the circumstances of death and not realise that one death is pretty much as bad as another regardless of the cause.

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    • dom180
      10 years ago

      I can't believe I'm in the minority over this. I'm not especially angry about that, I just find it confusing beyond belief. Do you people really place that little value on life that you'd throw away one thousand lives to stop one person being tortured? The mind boggles.

      People shouldn't act as if the base feeling of pain is the only thing that matters in this equation.

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      • disthing
        10 years ago

        I agree. I don't really get it.

        Maybe it's people voting with their hearts instead of their heads. I mean... both are terrible. But the suffering of the tortured 1 is perhaps more immediately obvious to people than the impact of 1000 painless deaths.

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        • dom180
          10 years ago

          Well we're back ahead by now, at least :)

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  • thr
    10 years ago

    Worse to whom?

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  • [Old Memory]
    10 years ago

    Well you know what they used to say during word war II.

    "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of one million men is just a statistic."

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  • Knoting1992
    10 years ago

    what if the person being tortured to death was the person who made this pole... would you guys still let 1000 people die? ha ha ha ;D

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  • Terence_the_viking
    10 years ago

    ooh what an interesting question.

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  • [Old Memory]
    10 years ago

    Do I get to choose who's tortured?

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  • _Molotov_Cocktail_
    10 years ago

    Or how about 1000 dying painfully? No option for that I see...
    *throws molotov cocktail in a malicious and somewhat sadistic manner

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  • anti-hero
    10 years ago

    "A drug gang" LOL

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  • pantyrose
    10 years ago

    They're both equally as bad. Period.

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  • iEatZombies_
    10 years ago

    How about we just kill the guy with the death button and then everybody's happy. =)

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  • filiasan
    10 years ago

    Honestly, the thought of 1,000 dying disturbs me just a little. But it's how a person dies that makes it so horrible.

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  • [Old Memory]
    10 years ago

    Worse?

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