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If we have to choose between having a 75 year old and a 5 year old die, most people would choose the 75 year old. They would be dying relatively soon anyways.
by jackpirate 7y ago
If we have to choose between having a 75 year old and a 5 year old die, most people would choose the 75 year old. They would be dying relatively soon anyways.
- ganafagol 7y agoI love both. The "if you had to choose" argument is a horribly utilitaristic one and I'm happy I'm neither related nor acquainted with anybody seriously bringing it up.
- ggm 7y agohorribly utilitaristic invites 'one man's meat is another man's poison.' Lots of people think utility is a higher goal.
- nostromo 7y agoIt's based on the egalitarian notion that every human deserves a long and healthy life. If an older person's life ends a bit earlier than it should have, it's sad. But a child's life ending premature, before they've had much of a life at all, is worse, by most peoples' calculus.
- jackpirate 7y agoThis is not a hypothetical. Doctors are literally making these decisions everyday when they practice medice, and the CDC is also making these decisions right now in the context of the coronavirus.