[Anon] [Text]

[crouching_sin]

Here's a question for you all. It's something that I read a while back, and I'm interested in your answers. Anonymous is fine, if you want.

There are five patients in a hospital. All of them are dying due to complications with various organs. All of them will die within the next day or so if they don't get an organ transplant. Magic won't save any of them, incidentally, if you were hoping to use that.

A young backpacker comes into the hospital or a checkup. He has no relatives, and he is in excellent health. As it happens, you, the surgeon on duty, notice that he is a perfect match for all five of the patients.

Assuming the backpacker does not give consent, is it morally permissible to cut him up and transfer the organs to the other patients? These are not organs that the backpacker can live without, so he'll die if you do.

I'm interested to hear what you think.

Comments

[crouching_sin]

[Naoya looks up, and is momentarily distracted by Legion bobbing menacingly. Stop that, Legion.]

Posing a philosophy question. I expect most people will react negatively... but there's a reason I use anonymous posting.

[babel_hacker]

Oh, that question about the doctor and patients?

[Once Atsuro got a glimpse of what's on the screen, it confirms his guess and he looks back at Naoya.]

I saw it earlier, but I didn't get a chance to really read through it all.

[crouching_sin]

It's a philosophy question. Some people take it seriously, others not at all seriously, and some people too seriously.

[He just shrugs. People are people. That's what makes humanity and free will a good thing.]

[babel_hacker]

I'm not surprised. Do you have any favourites among them?

[Atsuro's pulling out his PokeGear to check out the post. His Dedenne try to climb up onto a couch to sit down on. Atsuro pause to help her out.]

There you go, Flonette.

[crouching_sin]

... The one who didn't know what organ transplant was seemed pretty amusing, actually.

[Badb the Murkrow flies over and sits on the back of the couch, looking down at the Dedenne.]

[babel_hacker]

[Flonette looks up at Badb while eating a nut. She waves at the Murkrow.]

Didn't know about it? Sounds like they're from before medical science went that far.

[Scrolling until Atsuro stops the screen on his PokeGear.]

Ooh, found it!

[crouching_sin]

Mm. It's still a little strange to me, all of these different worlds... but there's so much more to learn.

[He actually sounds faintly excited about that. Human progress had exploded recently, but most of it built on things they'd already known. Having entirely new things to study... now that's worth getting excited about.]

[babel_hacker]

Yeah! That's one of my favourite things about meeting people here. Who knows what kind of world they're from and what kind of progress they made?

[Atsuro keep most of his attention on the screen, reading the replies. A lot of the answers are fairly typical, like moral outrage. And then there's the philosophical and pragmatic ones.]

[crouching_sin]

Exactly. It's a lot of different opportunities.

[And maybe someone from some world will have an idea of how to break his curse. There's at least a possibility.]

[babel_hacker]

Definitely a lot of opportunities...

[With demon control given to the government, Atsuro expects to see some technological advancement in the future. A number of current technology were built for warfare.]

Or even a glimpse into a possible future, in some cases. Maybe not the same future, but stuff like advancements in medicine and technology.

[crouching_sin]

Unfortunately it's unlikely that people from the future know all of the technical details of things... which makes the knowledge of limited use.

[Naoya's Arbok slithers over and plops his head into Naoya's lap.]

Oof - careful, Yurlungur.

[babel_hacker]

Yeah. The odds of a mechanic or a scientist from the future coming here is pretty low. If they do come, I'd like to learn from them and adapt their knowledge for my timeline.

[Seeing the Arbok coming closer, Flonette looks alarmed by him and get up to move closer to Atsuro on the couch. Atsuro blinks and look down from where he's standing, and glance over at where his Dedenne is looking at.]

...Don't worry about it, Flonette. I'm here and you can probably handle it.

[crouching_sin]

He's not much of a threat to you. I wouldn't worry.

[He gives the snake some scritches on the back of his hood and... yes. His tail is wagging a little bit.]

[babel_hacker]

[Flonette peeks over at Yurlungur from behind Atsuro. And gives a tentative wave.]

[crouching_sin]

'Bok chaa-bok!'

[Hello, friend!]

He's not very fierce... oh well.

[babel_hacker]

[H...hi!]

If he's not fierce, that means you two can be friends!

[crouching_sin]

He battles just fine, but I think he prefers being lazy to being terrifying.

[Yep. He's just got a goofy snakey grin on his face.]

[babel_hacker]

[Now Flonette's moving out from behind Atsuro.]

A lazy snake... Well, Pokemon can have very different traits.

[crouching_sin]

Of course. They can have personalities just like anyone else.

[babel_hacker]

It's what make getting a new Pokemon fun and exciting. Especially when their personality really contrast with their looks or the stereotypes their main typing have.

[crouching_sin]

Heh. Like Yurlungur here. He's not vicious at all unless I order him to.

[... And even then, not really.]

[babel_hacker]

That almost make me want to battle him with one of my Pokemon.

[One of his lower leveled ones, of course.]

[crouching_sin]

Heh. Definitely. I don't let any of mine slack off, no matter their personalities.

[babel_hacker]

Just let me know and I'll be happy to help. Fighting against other trainers give better experience than wild Pokemon.

[crouching_sin]

I've noticed. We can spar later, but right now I think he's enjoying being lazy.

[And that earns him another tailwag from the snake.]