Chapter 1: Values.

Non sequitir

[Who would you save? The elderly or the child?]

“Interesting,” I muttered, and took a sip of coffee. The sweet taste of hot latte greeted my tongue. It took me a few seconds to swallow; when I eat, I like to savor it carefully. After I swallowed, I reread the question again.

[In a small town, there is a murderous ghost. No matter what you do, the ghost will kill someone and you can't do anything to stop it, however, the ghost likes to ask random people who he will kill; more specifically, he creates options, and asks people to choose. The one the person chooses will die and the other will have their life spared as a consequence, and the person who chose will not suffer any negative consequences. You are the lucky person who can decide on the fate of others! The ghost asked in an ironic tone: I'm in doubt about which one I should kill: an old man or a child, considering that both are strangers? Which one do you suggest? If you don't answer, I will look for someone else and ask the same question.]

[Elderly.]

[Child.]

I've looked at the question carefully. It's clearly a modified version of Philippa Foot's train dilemma. Isn't it easier to just copy and paste the questions instead of going through all the extra work and modifying them? I really don't understand the site owner.

Philip sent me this quiz. Despite the fact that I became friends with him just to have a strong ally—after all, Philip is a wealthy man, and a connection with him is very beneficial to me—I never expected much from Philip; the quiz he sent me surprised me.

Has Philips finally matured and from now on, will he give up the yacht parties? Maybe yes, maybe no. Personally, I prefer the opposite. People of this type are usually easier to manipulate, besides the fact that such parties attract other powerful people who often just want to set aside some time to have fun and clear their minds tired from work, that is, a great meeting point to gain allies, although he usually invites few people.

Personally, I like seeing those girls in bikinis on Fridays, but I'd rather stay home and watch a series than waste energy on that. Unfortunately, the social world is fragile. Anyway, that's not relevant; who would I choose to save? The elderly or the child?

The answer is simple: it depends. There are many questions to consider. Is the elderly person healthy? Is the child healthy? Considering that both are healthy and have the same level of talent, I would save the child, because he or she will be able to contribute more than the elderly person when he or she is older.

Of course, the elderly person most likely contributed a lot during their life, but between a person who will contribute now and one who most likely will not contribute for a long time because the end is near, I choose the person who will contribute more now.

Forget the melancholic argument of "I'm going to save the child because he didn't live long enough." This is just an appeal by the powerful to the emotions of the common people to mask the true intention in saving the child: to get a current taxpayer.

Society does not care about "who lives more or less" but rather who will contribute or not. Of course, it is a mistake to say that incapable people are completely invisible to society, but they are almost invisible.

It's sad, but what can you do? Can you change reality and make the elderly man a strong, healthy man again?

I clicked on the "child" option. Immediately after that, a GIF of a ghost suffocating the child with its own hands appeared. Is the person responsible for that questionnaire trying to make me feel guilty?

Another question appeared.

[Between 1 person and 5 people, considering that they are all strangers, who would you save?]

[1 person.] [5 people.]

I clicked on the 5 people option without hesitation. Obviously, 5 people have contributed more to society than just 1. I have more to gain by saving them than by saving just 1. It's an easy question. Honestly, the previous question wasn't that hard either.

A follow-up question followed.

[Between saving a genius who will come up with a revolutionary invention for humanity, and 100 unknown people, who would you save?]

[Genius.]

[100 people.]

Oh, that's a clever question. Unfortunately, what might work as a dilemma for others is not a dilemma for me. I quickly clicked on the "genius" option.

In my humble opinion, if a person contributes more, then their life is worth more. For me, life is not and never will be equal. Only fools believe that everyone's life is worth the same. Different people have different skills and talents, and different skills have different uses, some being more useful than others, therefore, people with more useful skills in general are worth more than others. It is a very unpopular opinion, but that is how I think.

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Yes, I am a utilitarian person.

The question disappeared and another question appeared in its place. This time, it was:

[Between saving your girlfriend and 30 strangers, who would you save?]

[Girlfriend.]

[30 people.]

Obviously, my girlfriend. If these people are strangers, I have nothing to gain by saving them. Therefore, I would save my girlfriend. This may seem contradictory to a utilitarian like me, but I am a utilitarian, but not very utilitarian, I am selfish, but not very selfish. Besides, most people in the world are selfish. What's wrong with that? And even if it is immoral, what can you do? I am in my mind talking to myself, and as far as I know, they haven't invented a mind-reading machine yet.

Another question appeared:

[Between saving your mother from the ghost, and saving 1000 strangers, who would you save?]

[Mom.]

[1000 people.]

Okay, it's clear that the questions are exaggerated and the author seems more like he's trying to cause shock than to actually ask intelligent questions, but that's irrelevant. I'm just going to answer the question.

I clicked on the "my mother" option without hesitation. Not because she brought me into the world and raised me and therefore I owe her a debt, but because I love mine.

So what if 1000 people die? If my mother doesn't die, I'm in profit.

A new question appeared again.

[Between your mother and your son, who would you save?]

[Son.]

[Mother.]

"Finally, a high-level question has appeared. However, it is still an easy question. I don't have a son, but if I did, I would choose to save him over my mother."

Immediately after I clicked on the "child" option, another question replaced it.

[Between saving a rich elderly person and a child, who would you choose? Would you save the elderly person if he gave a guarantee and it was true that he would pay you 10 trillion dollars if he was chosen?]

[Rich old man.]

[Child.]

In other words, the same question as before, only modified in a way that seems more difficult than the first. Obviously, I chose the option "rich elderly person. Person, that's 10 trillion. If I had that, I would never have to worry about money again. Many people say "but the child will lose the opportunity to live", but what about me? Don't I have a life either? Obviously, I do, after all, if I weren't alive, I wouldn't even be answering the questions on this dubious website.

Almost immediately, another question replaced the one I had answered.

[A person is going to be killed by the ghost, but if you save that person, you will not eat ice cream for a week. Would you save him/her?]

[Yes.]

[No.]

"Ahhhh, what a disappointment."

To say I was disappointed is an understatement; my heart cried drops of blood. The quiz was so clever, and they threw in a question like that.

I selected "Yes." Another question, apparently the last of the questions, appeared. I read it carefully.

[If you were offered the opportunity of a new life much better than your current one, would you be reborn in another world and abandon your current life?]

[Yes.]

[No.]

An unexpected question popped up. Honestly, I thought it was going to be the "classic train dilemma", with the old questions. I thought they just changed the word "train" to "ghost". However, I was surprised by a question that I have never seen anywhere else before. Maybe it already exists, maybe it doesn't, the important thing is that I was surprised.

Would I abandon my current life, that is, abandon all my allies, friends, family, people who care about me and the people I love if I were offered the opportunity to be reborn in another world and live a better life than my current one?

It's a difficult question. I'm an honest and upright person, obviously... I'm going to choose the yes option!!

[Are you sure?]

[Yes.] [No.]

Yes! I mean, it's not like that would actually happen, hahaha. Either way, it doesn't matter. I selected the "Yes" option again.

After I selected "yes", the site changed to a loading screen. I immediately exited it for fear that I would get a virus on my phone.

Anyway, it was a good experience, I'll play some games. It's been a while since I played, hasn't it?

I got up. My goal was clear: go to the living room to spend the whole day playing.

I felt dizzy and took five steps, and I ended up falling to the ground. I tried hard to get up, but I couldn't. It was as if someone was pulling me to the ground.

After that, the last thing I remember before losing consciousness was a sharp headache hitting me and I heard a robotic female voice.

[Congratulations! You've been lucky enough to be selected for a one-way trip to another world!]