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David: And... oh, OK. I've been getting a lot of requests for new Morality with Motamedi
ideas. Normally we've been handling pretty basic ethical dilemmas. This is a little different,
but I want you to indulge me anyway, Louis.
A huge comet strikes the Earth, OK, wipes out 90% of all life and all infrastructure.
Would you want to continue to live in such a decimated world, or would you be tempted
to take your own life in that situation? It would be a hard life.
You know, this reminds me of a book I read called "Lucifer's Hammer", which actually
paints a pretty similar picture. And let's just say it turned to cannibalism in that
particular book. It wasn't pretty.
What would you say? Would you commit suicide if that was the situation, if you were lucky,
or unlucky, enough to be one of those who survived, or would you stick it out?
Louis: I mean, it depends on how bad things were. If I were like... if I were starving,
I wouldn't have a problem killing myself.
David: Would you do... would you end your own life in that situation before you start
eating other people, if that's what it came to?
Louis: Oh, OK.
David: I mean, just to make it more interesting.
Louis: I really can't say.
David: Louis is unsure on this one.
Natan: Other dead people, or other live people?
David: Oh, that's a good question.
Louis: I'd have to kill them, probably.
David: Yeah, let's assume that it was people that...
Natan: That's pretty bad.
David: ... it was people you had to kill, yeah.
Louis: I mean, I... could I be like... like a person who kills other cannibals? Like...
what's that show about the serial killer who kills serial killers, like that?
David: I don't know. It's not ringing a bell. This is a tough one. I think it depends on
the situation. I mean, these disaster movies inevitably make you think of these types of
scenarios. It's very hard to just say OK, 90% of life and infrastructure is gone.
Natan: Louis is Legend.
David: Yeah, exactly, like that movie "I Am Legend". I don't know. I think I would try
to stick it out as long as possible. I know that some people who proposed this situation
to me said right away, if that... if such a natural disaster takes place as to eliminate
90% of people and infrastructure, they're offing themselves right away.
Louis: I mean, starving to death seems like a pretty bad way to go.
David: Yeah, but let's assume it hasn't gotten to that point. In other words, you could survive,
you wouldn't have to starve, but it would just be a very rough life. I mean, it would
take you weeks just to cover a few miles. You would have to be foraging for berries
and nuts. I mean, literally we would be going back several, I don't know, many, many years
to a very different lifestyle. I guess I would try to stick it out. You also wouldn't ever
really have a way of knowing...
Louis: Yeah, I'd feel it out for a while.
David: I would... I think I would stick it out as long as I could.
Natan: Yeah, I mean it's possible that... like, you say 10% of people would survive,
maybe 10% of every type of thing would survive, so you'd have all the technology that we have.
You'd have 10% of supermarkets, 10% of computers, 10% of cars...
Louis: No, infrastructure's gone.
David: No, but think about it... OK, so 10% of the roads survive, but they're all disconnected
from each other, so how is... that's... you can't just say well, we'll still have 10%
of everything.
Natan: Right, but if you can, for example, go into an empty supermarket and get food,
you're not going to be starving for quite a while.
David: No, but a lot of that food will go bad, wouldn't it?
Natan: Well, I mean, you can get, you know, high-shelf-life food that'll last you years.
Louis: Canned goods.
David: Maybe the Mormon food storage thing that I criticized is a good idea. These scenarios
are making me question it.
Natan: Well, NASA, NASA has these products that last like seven years. You've just got
to make a lot of that.
David: Don't... how long does canned-- do canned items last?
Louis: They last a pretty long time.
David: Those can last several years, too.
Louis: Yeah.
Natan: Can they?
David: I think so.
Louis: Oh, yeah.
Natan: Do you get botulism at the end of it?
David: I don't think so. I mean, many items, when you buy it, it says best if used by,
and the date will be two... at least a couple of years later.
Louis: Right.
David: And you have to assume that includes some margin, you know?
Louis: Yeah, no doubt.
David: All right, so Louis, final answer, you would try to stick it out? In that situation,
you would not kill yourself?
Louis: Not immediately.
David: I agree. So keep sending your Morality with Motamedi questions, david@davidpakman.com.
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