Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Would You Rather Wednesday...

To follow are three questions. There is obviously no correct answer, but one option was usually preferred over the other. I will give you which one and the percentage it was chosen by…after you answer in the comment section. Go on, be brave and put your answers out there!


#1 Would You Rather…

Be one of ten engineers who design a bridge that one day collapses, resulting in 100 fatalities
OR
Be the only engineer of a bridge that one day collapses, resulting in one fatality?


#2 Would You Rather…

Count all the grains of sand in a sand castle
OR
Count all the eye droppers full of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool?


#3 Would You Rather…

Develop the worst case of acne ever on record
OR
Have your spouse suffer with it?

Update at 11:00 p.m. CST

#1 Be the only engineer of a bridge that one day collapses, resulting in one fatality by 71%

#2 Count all the eye droppers full of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool by 72%

#3 Have your spouse suffer with it by 70%?

16 comments:

enthalpymama said...

Argh. I am an engineer. The first question sits so rough with me, I'm not sure I can go on. The thought of creating one fatality would be heart-wrenching. But, the thought of 100 fatalities is far far worse, regardless of who was involved.

A friend of mine, also an engineer, was involved in designing safety systems for weapons of mass destruction. There were measurements of how many people could get hurt. I think of it often.

It is hard to consider these types of things, but they are considered all the time. Consider that you can study the fact that enough children do not die in bus accidents to warrant additional safety measures on buses, even though additional safety measures would, in fact, prevent additional accidents. In aggregate, its not worth it. As an individual decision, my son doesn't ride buses on the highway. Children his age rarely survive highway crashes on buses, but people still do it because it happens so infrequently.

We also get in cars and ride in airplanes. Its very tricky.

I think this was supposed to be a personality quiz. Well, you learned something about my personality!!

I hope other people play your game correctly. Sorry.

Badass Geek said...

1) I would rather the sole engineer of a failed bridge. One loss of a person is better than 100, even if it is my fault.

2) Grains of sand, for sure. A sand castle is much smaller than an Olympic-sized pool.

3) I would rather have the acne. I'd take anything bad away from my wife if I could.

Anonymous said...

#1 sole engineer causing 1 fatality
#2 hmmmm sandcastle?
#3 I'd give that asshole acne! (I don't have a spouse so I'm just pretending here!)

Lisa said...

You come up with some interesting(?)things to ponder.....where DO you come up with these things? Oh wait, it is what you do when you can't sleep at night huh?

Unknown said...

These are all Sophie's choice. but ...

#1 only engineer.

#2 Swimming pool.

#3 I'd rather have it.

The first choice was easy - fewer casualties.

The second choice was not so easy - but I chose based on the fact that for most of the time - I'd be able to float around in the pool.

The third choice was easy, too.

Anonymous said...

2, 2, 3.

MarĂ­a said...

I am not anonymous. I clicked it by accident. :)

Anonymous said...

Obviously, there are "right answers" here, at least to 1 and 3. The right answer to 1 is sole engineer with 1 fatality. But what if this results in your career nosediving and all sorts of other bad consequences for you while being part of a team does not? The right answer to 3 is that it's better if it happens to me, because it makes us sound selfless. But then again you can't see yourself when you're not looking in the mirror, right?

I would take the swimming pool, because it would be less eye strain to count eyedroppers of water than grains of sand. This is probably the only one without a correct answer, although the guy that said the sandcastle is smaller probably has the right idea.

Michael C said...

Whoa, these are good!

1. One of 10, let's spread the blame around.

2. The pool. I like water and sands sticks everywhere!

3. I'd take the acne. No one should have to deal with that.

Michele said...

Hmmmm....
#1 - sole engineer
#2 - grain of sand
#3 - I'd rather have it

Hugz,
Michele

Anonymous said...

#1) Be the only engineer of a bridge that one day collapses, resulting in one fatality?


#2) Count all the grains of sand in a sand castle



#3) Have MY spouse suffer with it? Since I dont have a spouse no one is injured with this one!

Whitney said...

AH! NEITHER, NOR AND NADA! Those questions are definitely hard.

I don't want to be the cause of any death - killing one would be just as traumatic as killing 100.

I guess I would count the grains. And I would murmur angry things the entire time.

I would have the acne. And remind him every day that I took it over him having it, so that he would do all the chores for me. :)

Tricia said...

Uggg. This requires a certain amount of thought that I can't muster this late at night. But I'm quite sure these questions will now haunt me through the night.

Coal Miner's Granddaughter said...

#1 - To quote Spock, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or of the one." That being said, only one can die. So, I would rather be the only engineer of the shitty bridge that kills one person.

#2 - I would rather count the eye droppers. Then? I might go swimming.

#3 - Oh, crap. I hate this. But since my spouse is a man and pimples don't freak him out like they do me, I'll vote my spouse.

God, I'm horrible, aren't I?

Anonymous said...

Well, I would definitely go for one fatality over 100, but even one would still be unbearable. I'd count the grains of sand - seems quite poetic somehow. And my spouse would definitely be the one to get the acne. I can't handle the pustules.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully this will come up, but sometimes my Blogger does not love me (or more specifically, my laptop) and so I will have to find another way.

"#1 Would You Rather…
Be one of ten engineers who design a bridge that one day collapses, resulting in 100 fatalities
OR
Be the only engineer of a bridge that one day collapses, resulting in one fatality?

Oh, goodness. Is this Chinese blogger torture? Yikes.

On this first torturous question, I will have to go with Option B. I would be black-balled from engineering - especially bridges - but I'll have left behind 99 living people. It would not be right to kill 99 more in the hopes that maybe I did not directly make the bungling move that killed them. Scary.

#2 Would You Rather…
Count all the grains of sand in a sand castle
OR
Count all the eye droppers full of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool?

I suppose answering neither is the chicken way out and not very sporting. So, pretending that the fate of the world hangs in the balance if I don't do one... I will go with Option B. Sand is too small and my chances of making a mistake exponentially higher than the Olympic pool sized container... Ugh. It will take me most of my lifetime to do it... I'm 40 already...

#3 Would You Rather…
Develop the worst case of acne ever on record
OR
Have your spouse suffer with it?

This is a no brainer. I would hate it, but I would do it. What the hell is my husband going to do with an outbreak acne?! He'd make an awful mess, somehow, something he does with great frevor anyway! No, I'd have to do it. And then spend a ton of money, in $30 increments (my copay for doctor visits) to get this fixed.

How annoying..."