Week 3.1- Lifeboat Ethics

Think about this: you are walking around town and you come across a homeless man.  You want to help the broke man, so Should you give him all the money in your wallet? No.  Should you go to the bank and give him all the money you own? Certainly not.  The best thing you could do is give him spare change.  A few coins or maybe a couple of dollars bills would be an adequate donation to the poor man.  You would give him a small sum that would not negatively effect your survival.  The poor should be helped in moderation because being too charitable could make you wind up poor yourself, and not being charitable will cause others to suffer.

Some people say that you can never be too charitable.  Quite the contrary, being too charitable is very dangerous.  If you give a homeless man all your money, then you will have no money.  If you have no money, you will not be able to pay bills.  If you can not pay your bills, you will lose your house.  If you lose your house, you will become homeless and will have only traded places with the man that you donated to.  Being overly charitable means not thinking about yourself when helping others.  If you give away all your money, it will be harder for you to survive.  Very rarely should you sacrifice your own survival for others.

Still, it is very important to help preserve the survival of the human race.  If you do not help people who are in great peril, they could die.  If another member of the human race dies, it lessens the strength of the whole species.  It is better to have more than less.  The more people that die, the less humans that will be born.  The more people we have, the less likely that we will be wiped out.  For example, if you have one million marbles and one shatters, it is okay because you still have nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine marbles left. That one marble could also be easily replaced later on.  To continue the human species, we must ensure that we all look out for each other in order to try to keep us all alive.  That way we will not all die out in the future to come.

Think about this: you are walking around town and come across a homeless man.  You want to help the broke man, and you give him a few crumpled up dollars bills you had kept in your pocket without thinking.  This is exactly what should be done.  Do not give him all your money, because then you will become homeless as well.  Do not do nothing either, as this will only further the problem and potentially lessen the strength of the human race. You must help the poor only in moderation.  This is the only way that we can possibly hope to maintain the continuance of the human race.