Food for thought - interesting....

[Galantspeedz]

Insight into Decision Making - Good One:

 

 

A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused.

Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track.

 

The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange.

You can make the train change its course to th e disused track and save most of the kids.

However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed.

Or would you rather let the train go its way?

 

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make......... ........

 

 

(There is a pic but i do not know how to copy it in)

 

 

 

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child.

You might think the same way, I guess.

 

Exactly, to save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision

most people would make, morally and emotionally.

 

But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact

made the right decision to play at a safe place?

 

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was.

This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday.

In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society,

the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority,

no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined.

And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

 

The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens..

 

If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe.

If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake!

 

And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

 

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made,

we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

 

'Remember that what's right isn't always popular... and what's popular isn't always right.'

 

Everybody makes mistakes; that's why they put erasers on pencils.

 

[Zniper]

nice one... agree on it...

[Seabass_sg]

Interesting!!

[Lightbringer]

This is an age-old argument typically used to justify all sorts of controversial ideologies and system of governance, running the whole gamut from eugenics, communism, despotism, monarchism (i.e. the chosen one), etc. The more obvious interpretation here would be that to divert the train to the disused tracks would be interfering with the process of "natural selection" and Darwinism, hereby weakening the gene pool and consequently leading to the extinction of the human race down the road.

 

A more subtle and nuanced interpretation is the many variations of central governance by an elite group of individuals who are purported to be a)geniuses who knows the best; b) the special one(s) chosen by divine entities (such as god(s), spirits, whatever); c) prophets or mystics who can see the future to save mankind from destruction. The list goes on and on, but the basic foundation is that the masses are too stupid to make the best decision for themselves and/or for society as a whole, and the really intelligent people need to take charge and make the necessary (and often painful decision) for progress and evolution of civilization to go on.

 

In fact, a milder form is being applied right under our nose by you-know-who. I'm sure no further elaboration is needed here.

 

There is no fast or correct answer to this dilemma. In my younger and rasher days I was a very strong advocate of the "masses be damned, the intelligent and smart needs to take charge and decide what's the best for everybody" argument, but over the years I realized that people are not commodities, and that even if what people wants might not necessarily be the best choice in terms of economic output or whatever metrics we choose to define success or value by, it might be better or even necessary to heed those choices due to many reasons and factors, but some of the more important ones being that society as a whole often need to make painful and possibly disastrous consequences for society to evolve and grow without fracturing apart from within. The turning point was when I read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Prisig at the behest of a close friend, turning the concept of quality and utility upon it's whole head. It's a classic that I recommend to all of my friends even today.

 

My point here is that the issue raised by this dilemma is not merely a moral, intellectual or political issue - it's about the whole thrust of the evolution of humankind (or on a lesser scale, a particular society) and the complexion which it would take on. Just because communism and Nazism failed (simply some of the more prominent examples) doesn't means that they are not viable, or that something is fundamentally wrong with them. The implementation was horribly flawed, totally corrupted from the inside out - but that doesn't means democracy (switching the train tracks) is the one and only way. There's still a lot out there waiting to be discovered and it's going to be an exciting journey for sure.

[Galantspeedz]

you very cheem........ i read half way nia....

[Freestylers09]

ya why save those who own choice lead to their consequences knowing the later consequences...

 

and sacrifice the one who not suppose to die

 

but well, this is life..bad one usually survive..think i watch too much show

[Jman888]

you very cheem........ i read half way nia....

 

indeed..... I need more time to digest!

[RadX]

Acherlee good post by LB...indeed the choices we make in work sometimes, the RIGHT ones, get us sacrificed. However, I rather make the RIGHT choice and sleep well as opposed to doing unethical things...as I always feel

 

'what goes round comes round'

[RadX]

indeed..... I need more time to digest!

 

 

u sure anot......

[Jman888]

u sure anot......

 

eh this type of topic involve emotional, ethic, moral, belief, value, etc..... very taxing mentally you know [laugh]

[RadX]

eh this type of topic involve emotional, ethic, moral, belief, value, etc..... very taxing mentally you know

 

 

oh yah..forgot you still on DOS...haven go to Snow Leopard yet

[Tonyhawk]

sorry LB, do you have an english version? im afraid my little brain cannot take too big words.

[Thargor]

Kinda reminds me of Saving Private Ryan....

 

Will you kill 10 soldiers to save a 1000....

Or will you save 1 soldier and get 10 soldiers killed as a result...

 

Me...I will do the right thing. Save the kid playing on the disused track. I believe in the butterfly effect..killing the kid in the disused track will create more 'wrong' in the end...

[Arowana1]

question: the kid playing at the disused track, did he do so by intention or by luck?

 

i would let the train run as it is... tis is wat nature or heaven intended rite? juz stay sidelines, dun try to be hero cos either way someone dies thru my action. let time runs its course and it is not my fault but heaven's... kekeke

[Kopitam]

Kinda reminds me of Saving Private Ryan....

 

Will you kill 10 soldiers to save a 1000....

Or will you save 1 soldier and get 10 soldiers killed as a result...

 

Me...I will do the right thing. Save the kid playing on the disused track. I believe in the butterfly effect..killing the kid in the disused track will create more 'wrong' in the end...

how painful it is

i fully agreed

[Lightbringer]

question: the kid playing at the disused track, did he do so by intention or by luck?

 

i would let the train run as it is... tis is wat nature or heaven intended rite? juz stay sidelines, dun try to be hero cos either way someone dies thru my action. let time runs its course and it is not my fault but heaven's... kekeke

 

Standing by and consciously not doing anything is also a decision on your part. Conscious inaction makes you as culpable as if you had pulled the lever in the first place.

 

In the end, we are all responsible for our decisions and our actions. Inaction is a decision and action into itself. No such thing as "heaven's fault".

[Maxus-MIFA9]

TIME & KARMA

 

 

When a bird is alive, it eats ants.

 

When the bird has died, ants eat it.

 

One tree can be made into a million matchsticks.

 

One matchstick is needed to burn a million trees.

 

Circumstances can change at any time. Don't devalue or hurt anyone in this life.

 

You may be powerful today but time is more powerful than you !

 

 

     

[Gitanic]

TIME & KARMA

 

 

When a bird is alive, it eats ants.

 

When the bird has died, ants eat it.

 

One tree can be made into a million matchsticks.

 

One matchstick is needed to burn a million trees.

 

Circumstances can change at any time. Don't devalue or hurt anyone in this life.

 

You may be powerful today but time is more powerful than you !

 

 

     

 

 

relates to a sinkie ego issue.

 

really does one win or need be,and recognized?

 

it's eternal hell as no ending.

 

now i just say,you win.