This struck an emotional nerve with me, so I’m going to answer as if this were an actual real-life situation, rather than an interesting hypothetical math problem about maximizing expected utility.
IMHO, if this was a situation that occurred in real life, neither of the solutions is correct. This is basically another version of Sophie’s Choice. The correct solution would be to punch you in the face for using the lives of children as pawns in your sick game and trying to shift the feelings of guilt onto me, and staying silent. Give the money or not as you see fit, but don’t try to saddle me with guilt over lives that YOU chose not to save.
The correct option is refusal to play combined with retaliation for blackmail. If—as with the Nazi officer—this is impossible and one is stuck with choosing from the two options you gave THEN calculation can enter into it. However, future vengeance opportunities should be explored.
It may be better to phrase such problems in terms of game-shows or other less emotionally charged situations. Given a twisted enough game, people will look for ways to pull the rope sideways.
This struck an emotional nerve with me, so I’m going to answer as if this were an actual real-life situation, rather than an interesting hypothetical math problem about maximizing expected utility.
IMHO, if this was a situation that occurred in real life, neither of the solutions is correct. This is basically another version of Sophie’s Choice. The correct solution would be to punch you in the face for using the lives of children as pawns in your sick game and trying to shift the feelings of guilt onto me, and staying silent. Give the money or not as you see fit, but don’t try to saddle me with guilt over lives that YOU chose not to save.
The correct option is refusal to play combined with retaliation for blackmail. If—as with the Nazi officer—this is impossible and one is stuck with choosing from the two options you gave THEN calculation can enter into it. However, future vengeance opportunities should be explored.
It may be better to phrase such problems in terms of game-shows or other less emotionally charged situations. Given a twisted enough game, people will look for ways to pull the rope sideways.