You are in the middle of your day when, all of a sudden, a space craft lands on the ground in front of you. Some men exit the craft, take you captive, and fly into outer space. There are no "aliens" aboard the ship; it is completely man made, and controlled by humans.

The men who took you captive lead you to a room. Upon entering the room you see a man holding a gun to another man's head. You recognize the endangered man as a convicted sex offender, murderer and thief. He has no way of protecting himself from the immediate danger, and cannot escape, for he is seated in a chair and his hands and feet are bound. Also inside the room is a television broadcasting a live shot of the Earth.

You are quickly seated and your hands and feet are subsequently bound to the chair. You have no weapons with you. You take note of everything in the room and realize that you cannot escape, the sex offender cannot escape... all you can do is negotiate. Violence is not an available course of action.

The man holding the gun says to you, "I have the power to bring destruction upon the entire surface of the Earth, killing every living thing in the process, by simply pressing this button." He gestures to a large, red button on the control panel in front of him. "I also have the power to shoot this convicted criminal until he is dead. I am going to commit one of these acts, but I will let you choose for me. Which would you have me commit?"

You begin by talking to him, saying things like "you don't want to do this" and you genuinely try to reason with him. You try some psychoanalysis on him, but it is to no avail... he's Irish.

At last, he declares, "If your next words are not your decision, then I will shoot you and this criminal, and then I will destroy the Earth! Now... which would you have me commit?!"

What do you say?

He's Irish...? I dun geddit.

I'm pretty sure you're going to get a 99+% response rate saying kill the convict. Probably be more interesting if he had never committed a major crime in his life.

Well it makes perfect sense as far as survival of the species goes. The needs of the many, after all.

Also, if you choose to save him, then the Earth is fairly ****ed for several hundred (if not thousand) years, as I imagine every living thing to mean animals and plants as well as humans. This means that the evolutionary process has to start over from scratch.

Also, I don't get the Irish jab either, but unless there is a damn good excuse or reason for it, I'd consider it to be a discriminatory statement.

- "This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever" (Sigmund Freud - about the Irish)

- Yes... as I expected. I'm curious about the 1%...

Right, by any chance do you have any links to a number of serious scientific studies that confirm this? Because I'm not going to take the words of just one neurologist at face value. Even if he is the father of psychoanalysis.

- Really now? I doubt Freud was being serious, and neither was I...

So I guess making racist remarks is alright as long as you're "not being serious"?

Guys really settle down. It was a joke, just like saying I'm Irish and I like to drink. Seriously now, you're making it worse than this "jab" could have ever been by twisting it into a truly discriminating statement. It's called a sense of humor. Oh and by the way, he's probably hot headed too, he's probably a ginger and likes to drinnk.

Damn I'm racist against my own heritage...lynch me...and how is referring to a freudian joke racist?

Anyway, back to the topic. For an odd reason, I'd almost be tempted to blast Earth. I think, along many lines, humans have become to complacent. Watch the evolution from wild wolves to our domesticated dogs and thats what humans are doing. I'd like to see what man kind could do with a fresh start, that being said I guess there's no garuntee that there would be any women who could garuntee the survival of the race, and the love for my loved ones would probably over-ride any philosophical feelings I have of humanity.

So in the end, I'd probably blast the criminal.

Sounds similar to the plot of The Knowing to me.

I'd definitely blow the criminal . pretty much a no brainer, although I wouldn't enjoy seeing brains fly everywhere.

- Yes, it does seem like a no-brainer at first glance doesn't it...