Cave Rescue Scenario

[WhiteTiger]

This was an exercise that a group I am part of was run through today:



Six people are trapped underground in a collapsed mine that is slowly filling with water. You are able to rescue them, but only one at a time. You don't know how fast the cave will fill with water. You may get everyone out, you may only get one person out. You are handed a brief bio on all six, and then asked to decide in which order they will be rescued.



For the purposes of this exercise, assume that they will comply with what you say (they won't pick an order themselves, say, or refuse to come up out of the chosen order) but that you can only communicate your choice of the next person to be sent up to them. What you know of them is only what is in the brief bio you have.


Who gets rescued in what order, and why?


Helen Richardson, Female, 34 ~ Helen is married and a homemaker. Her husband is a member of the City Council. She had been a promising psychology student before leaving the university to be married. Helen has 4 children (aged 7 months to 8 years) and lives in a suburban community near the university. Helen became introduced to the experiment through Owen, with whom she's become romantically involved.


Tozo Naikoe, Female, 19 ~ Tozo is single and a pre-med student at Provincial University. her parents live in Tokyo where her father is a prominent business man and her mother is chairperson of the Cancer Research Foundation. She has achieved top honors in her classes for the last three years, and has been awarded two scholarships for academic achievements. Tozo was voted by her classmates as most likely to succeed and intends to return to Japan and set up a free clinic for the poor.


John Sampson, Male, 41 ~ John is married and campus coordinator of Catholic Social Serviced at Provincial University. He has 5 children (aged 6 to 19). John worked full time while attending university and he earned a masters degree in social work. He has become involved in an anti-racist group, which holds frequent protests.


Owen Smith, Male, 40 ~ Owen is a landed immigrant and a high school physical education instructor. He is unmarried and is currently unemployed. He is an auto mechanic by trade. He was involved in a serious car accident 4 years ago and has lost the use of his left hand. Since the accident, he has taken on odd jobs and relied mostly on government assistance. Two years ago he developed an alcohol problem and is currently attending AA meetings. He is an American and served in Viet Nam where he received several distinguished decorations. Since returning to civilian life, Owen has been unsettled and his drinking has become a problem. He came to Canada 5 years ago and met Helen, the wife of a co-teacher.


Suni Vapar, Male, Age 47 ~ Suni is a medical research scientist at the University Hospital. He is recognized as a world authority on the treatment of immune deficiencies. Suni is part of the research team testing a new experimental treatment for the cure of AIDS. He feels that he is getting closer to discovering a cure for AIDS but much of the research data is still in his working notebooks. He recently suffered nervous exhaustion from overwork and volunteered for this project because he felt he needed a break.


Edward Palmerston, Male 59 ~ Edward is married with two grown children who both have their own families. Edward is the owner and president of a medium sized manufacturing company. His company employs 250 people and has recently fallen on hard times due to the loss of a major account. Recently, his company has laid off 50 employees and is facing possibly bankruptcy. Edward has personally negotiated a major contract for his company and final contract details are awaiting his return to work. This contract, if signed, would guarantee future employment for all 250 employees for at least the next 10 years. Active socially and politically in the community, Edward's hobby is spelunking and he intends to write a book on the subject.


~~
My group of 4 couldn't come up with a rescue order in the 20 minute time limit we had. We couldn't determine a "rescued first" and a "rescued last". We couldn't even come up with a majority on anything when it was put to a vote.

[GP_Matt]

Tozo
Edward
Helen
John
Owen
Suni

Picked alphabetically by last name. It isn't up to us to judge and rank the value of people to society. Assuming there are no medical conditions and no reason to suspect that any of them will go crazy and kill the rest then random order is only fair. That, or let them decide amongst themselves.

[Northendzone]

Chicks first, in order of hotness/availibility

[sclitheroe]

Is the group you're involved in trying to promote, or to cure, mental masturbation? Just curious which outcome they were aiming for.

[LChoy]

from medic point of view, usually the individuals that need the most medical treatment are rescued first
If it's all equal, I recall fire rescue does it alphabetically by first name

[bizaro86]

Historically it'd be women and children first.

I'm also quite curious as to what type of group you're in that's discussing this.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I'm also quite curious as to what type of group you're in that's discussing this.

Since this has come up a couple times already...it was a visit from our Diversity Unit, and to my understanding, this exercise is supposed to demonstrate how various life experiences shape your perceptions. Most everyone will have a different order based on their experiences and values (one of the other groups, for instance, insisted that the parents of small children go first, so the kids don't end up without parents...) and when you put folks into a group to discuss it, it's rare that the group can come up with an majority vote to "set an order".

[getbak]

The 40 year-old who "served in Viet Nam"...I assume that means he was a waiter there for a while in his 20s since he was born the same year the war ended.

[oilyfan]

I would pick based on the greater good, so each person is graded based on their utility to society. So Tozo would be first, because she seems to have the greatest utility, Edward next and so on.

[Rathji]

Helen is obviously giving it away, so she should be rescued first.

[Derek Sutton]

No brainer, shortest to the tallest if it is filling with water, everyone should make it. What sort of group are you a part of that could not figure this out?

[kirant]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

I would pick based on the greater good, so each person is graded based on their utility to society. So Tozo would be first, because she seems to have the greatest utility, Edward next and so on.

If you're going to go by that, Suni probably deserves consideration for the top. Although AIDS is a disease we can effectively control non-stop, a cure (and by extension, the mind that seems to be closest to solving it) would be much more impact than that.

---

In a real scenario, I would posit though that I would waive my right to pick who comes out first. My job should be to get as many out, as fast as possible. Only if the group below can't make a decision would I intervene. Then it should go to those who need medical aid the most. If that isn't an issue, then those which can't swim (because in this scenario, that may buy extra time). Then women and children.

[keenan87]

Suni- Medical Advancement
Edward- Business and 250 lives attached to it
Tozo- Full of potential
Helen- Mother
John- At least he did something with his life
Owen- The guy did a lot in the past but currently he is a burden on society

[CaptainCrunch]

I don't think its my job to pick, I'm wheeling them up as fast as I can.

The question is how the girls look in wet clothes

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

No brainer, shortest to the tallest if it is filling with water, everyone should make it. What sort of group are you a part of that could not figure this out?

Nowhere in the bio you are provided is their height (or their swimming ability). Which is the answer to the two questions I asked first.

[getbak]

Edward has personally negotiated a major contract for his company and final contract details are awaiting his return to work. This contract, if signed, would guarantee future employment for all 250 employees for at least the next 10 years.

This makes it seem like if he dies, all his employees will lose their jobs, but it's not like the other company is going to just walk away from the contract that close to signing it because the guy who was negotiating it died in a tragic accident.

[kirant]

Originally Posted by keenan87

Suni- Medical Advancement
Edward- Business and 250 lives attached to it
Tozo- Full of potential
Helen- Mother
John- At least he did something with his life
Owen- The guy did a lot in the past but currently he is a burden on society

Basically had this if we're approaching this from a values based "who do you like most" question. I had Helen, John, Owen based on family surroundings - Helen's family could not support themselves while John's while likely going to be difficult, could. Then John because it'd be better to have 2 families with 1 parent than one orphan family and a full one.

[Hatter]

Totally at random.

Projecting my personal views onto 6 peoples lives would be unfair. I don't have the right to judge someone's utility to society.

If random is not an acceptable response, I'd go from youngest to oldest. Mostly because why not?

[dammage79]

The noted experienced Spelunker should be going last as he is the least in danger of the group.

If I had to take a shot here.

1. Owen
2. Suni
3. Helen
4. John
5. Kozo
6. Edward
7. Me as I supposedly have the where with all in this situation to get myself out of this jam.

Owen being the least capable to get out himself would have to go first. Regardless of his ######y ways.

Suni, aside from his job of curing diseases, the man is on a stress relief break, needs to be removed to stop the spread of panic and disorder in the group.

Helen, Has kids, goes next.

John, same goes.

Tozo, young, highly intelligent and has the capability to critically think under the circumstances.

Edward. Explained at the top.

[Chingas]

Avoiding all of the copout answers about not choosing whos life is more valuble etc, which IMO completely defeats the purpose of the excercise, my order below.


John
Helen
Edward
Suni
Tozo
Owen

Based on children affected, then likely benifit to society.