• Question: do you believe in sacrificing a few people to save a few more? or the greater good?

    Asked by Eddie Zoo to Dave, Ed, Guido, Hugh, Stef on 16 Mar 2015. This question was also asked by Niamh.
    • Photo: Ed Rial

      Ed Rial answered on 16 Mar 2015:

      Hi Eddie.

      Yes, I believe in the greater good. I don’t know how I’d react to having to sacrifice myself or my family to save hundreds of strangers, but hopefully I’ll never be in that position!

      Ed

    • Photo: Dave Bond

      Dave Bond answered on 16 Mar 2015:

      Yes sounds quite logical that one life is not more valuable than another. So many lives must be more valuable than one.

      But that is quite a hard thing to do if you are ever in that position.

    • Photo: Guido Bolognesi

      Guido Bolognesi answered on 16 Mar 2015:

      Hi Eddie,

      that is entirely up to the people who freely decide to sacrifice themselves.
      Many scientists, engineers as well as political activists gave their life for the good of many other people.

      However, in my opinion one should not sacrifice the lives of other people for a greater good.

    • Photo: Hugh Harvey

      Hugh Harvey answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      This is a really tough question Niamh –

      In my field of work, radiation, I can say that sacrifice of a few was for the greater good.

      This is because the only data we have about high radiation doses comes from people affected by nuclear explosions in World War II like Hiroshima. If it wasn’t for them being exposed to radiation then we would never know what happens at high doses (because we wouldn’t be allowed to test it in a lab!)

      Due to the data from these people we now know what ‘safe’ limits are for different types of radiation, which is for the greater good.

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