Waking Philosophy

So yesterday I went on about how I had been up since Thursday at 0900ish because of a situation. Well, guess what I did after posting that? I kept working on it until I realized it was futile of me to carry on. So rather than get the rest I needed oh-so-much, I went to work.

It was weird - for the first hour or so, I was feeling faint and ready to pass out, vomit, have my insides explode, and have my eyes gouge themselves out... all at the same time. As time progressed, however, my body re-adapted and was able to filter everything except "tired eyes" off my fatigue list. Indeed - almost nobody could tell that I was suffering from sleep deprivation.

After that long and tiring session, I got home at roughly 0015 and immediately knocked myself out on the bed. Thank goodness - 38 hours really is hard to go through. I'm thankful it wasn't 40 - otherwise I get reaaaaaaaly loopy.

I woke up at 1330 and realized that I had roughly 2.5 hours before work. Combine the post-waking fatigue with the demand that I have to post 1,000 words on each of my entries this month, and you get a slight dilemma: what the hell do I type?



Eventually I decided to just let my mind wander, because my friends know that eventually, I'll get around to getting a good idea - no matter how far I stray off-track.

I didn't know what to type, so I decided to go on the Internet and look for things. For some strange reason, I decided to look at old Facebook notes and other things from the past my friends and I slapped on. The things that were said and written... man, were they just weird or what? Of course, you can't answer - none of you really have access to any of that stuff (especially if we're not friends on Facebook).

However, I found one interesting entry that I felt I should share - not only because it was lengthy enough for me to get my thousand words (It's not "cheating"; it's "being resourceful!"), but because it invoked some thinking despite how short it was.



Random Question
(As random as it is, it does spark some philosophic discussion.)

Two years ago one of my friends (let's call him John H.) posted a random question. I'll let his words describe it.

I wanted all y'all's opinion to this question - frankly 'cause I think this is the best question to ever pop into my head.

If someone gave you some money and told you there was n/1,000,000 (n being the amount of money you just received) chance that the money was acquired by beating up orphans (to the point of hospitalization) with AIDS for their lunch money, what is the maximum amount of money you would feel comfortable getting without feeling guilty?

Factor in the odds, and the fact that the average orphan carries $2, and that the orphans have no insurance to cover the medical bills.

Examples:

• If you accepted two dollars, there is a two in a million chance he beat up one orphan to get this money.
• If you accepted $1,000,000, there is a million in a million chance - basically, (yes he did it) he just beat up five hundred thousand orphans for this money.
• If you accepted one dollar, the is a one in a million chance he beat up half an orphan for this money.

I think I would go with $10,000 before I started feeling guilty - a 1% chance he beat up 5,000 orphans.

This was (and still is) an interesting question to ask.

The first two people to respond said $50,000 and $800,000 respectively. The latter also said that he'd use the money to "set up a orphans-with-aids fund and maybe a focus group for the ones who have mysteriously been beaten up by someone."

I was the third to chime in with a response. It was quite shocking - both to myself and to everyone who read that note - and when I re-read it again just now, I was amazed by my choice and explanation (which, in my opinion, is very valid).

My response is probably going to shock everyone - mostly because it goes completely against everything I stand for.

I'D TAKE IT ALL. And I'd feel no remorse whatsoever.

Good people left and right in this world get the short stick handed to them every single day. People in the wrong place at the wrong time receive bullets and baseball bat swings that weren't meant for them. Honorable innocents who do the right thing are ill-present while atrocious vermin with no sense of morality plague the communities around them.

So 500,000 orphans got beat up and their money got stolen. What, I'm supposed to feel bad or something? In the words of Joseph Stalin: "One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic." While these kids may be stabilized in the hospital, the essence of the quote still applies.

Maybe it's compassion fatigue, or maybe it's my jaded negativity evolving into full-blown cynicism. Either way, all I know is that I could use this money to absolve various dues and help some other people in a pinch. It's too late to help these orphans (they're already hospitalized, remember? Two dollars won't even cover a single Jell-O cup they get from the hospital cafeteria...), but maybe I could help the people around me with something.

Think about it: why would someone randomly give you a seven-digit sum of money like that? It had to come from somewhere, and I heavily doubt this person offering you the money is some bored billionaire-turned-philanthropist.

So while I may be guilty of essentially taking money from these orphans, here's the dilemma the rest of you face: if you considered taking any of this money, your conscience may still be guilty. The heavy bet you have riding on the chance that he didn't beat 'em up is a nasty gamble. And the constant about gambling is that eventually... you lose.

Unless you're okay with shit like this haunting your mind (or if you're a deadpan cynic like me), I'd recommend against taking any of the cash.

Needless to say: I had the longest thought-out response.

Anyway, it was quite interesting to see me-from-two-years-ago to say this. I mean, I knew I was heartless (sort of) to begin with back then, but even so, to just take the money and not even care? Maaan, that's twisted. To be honest, though: I would probably still take it all. I still agree with that viewpoint, and like I said, I'd use the money to help out the people I can work with. The next few responses were a mix of "take all the money" explanations that cited my line of thinking... and "I never thought I would mutter these words, but I agree with Josh" commentary.



Now, a few questions I'd like to ask the (two) readers I have:

1. Do you agree with my reasons for taking the money? (Essentially, this is asking: "Do you think I'm a monster?")?
2. How much would you want to take before you felt guilty (in the event that you have a conscience)?

I'm very much interested to see what you think, and what you would do in this scenario. Welp, until the 'morrow - work calls!