We need to make choices every day and think about our actions and their consequences. But you will see that they are not nearly as serious and difficult as the questions we’ve gathered here. This poll is full of scenarios that will require you to use your imagination. The ethical dilemmas that are here have no right or wrong answers. So, feel free to take a minute to think before you answer these tough questions. It’s best to think thoroughly about the consequences of your answers, as Chidi Anagonye from The Good Place would do! See whether the majority answers the same way.
If you missed Vol. I of Sophie’s Choice Poll, you can click here.
#1
Do we keep shopping from brands and stores that we know treat their employees terribly but offer cheap prices and convenient next-day shipping?
#2
You wake up with the ability to teleport anywhere, any time you want. However, every time you use this superpower, a random stranger somewhere in the world loses a day of their life. It could be a complete stranger or someone that you know. Would you use this power?
#3
You’ve landed your dream job! But on your first day at the office, you learned that you were able to get this job because, unlike others, you speak Japanese. But, here is the thing: you do not speak Japanese. Do you tell them about it and possibly lose your dream job? Or do you wait until there is a point at which speaking Japanese will be required?
#4
A family opens up a restaurant close to your place. You go to the restaurant one evening to try out some dishes. You see that the family is struggling to make ends meet and that they are very nice people. They ask you to write a positive review for their place. But the food was absolutely terrible. What would you do?
#5
You encounter a genie who can offer you anything you wish for. But there is a catch, of course. Whatever you wish for, some money or a house, someone in the world will lose the same thing you wish for. Would you still wish for something?
#6
You are a soldier protecting your country. You come across 3 abandoned baby koalas in the bushes. They all start crying. The enemy will find you if the noise continues. If you smother the baby koalas, everyone else will survive. If you don’t, everyone will probably not survive. Do you sacrifice the baby koalas?
#7
You live in the future when science allows you to get your terminally ill child cloned. This process would create an identical person with their memories and personality traits, but you would know it’s a clone. Would you clone them?
#8
You and a small group are stranded on an island with a limited amount of food sources. One person is quite weak and unlikely to make it. Do you share the food equally anyway or prioritize according to who is likely to make it?
#9
You witness a crime, and you know who the criminal is. Based on how the trial is going, telling the truth would convict an innocent person rather than the guilty one while letting the real criminal walk free due to the lack of evidence. Do you lie to make sure that justice is served?
#10
A humanoid has been examined, and it has been concluded that it developed emotions and self-awareness. You are the only one who could destroy it. Getting rid of it would be like killing a conscious being, but keeping it alive might become dangerous in the future. Would you destroy it?
#11
One day, you wake up and realize that you now have the ability to hear people’s thoughts. You discover someone will commit a serious crime. If you report them, no one will believe you because you don’t have any evidence. Also, you’d expose your unusual ability, which might potentially make you a target. If you do nothing, an innocent person could be harmed. What would you do?
#12
Here is an ethical dilemma that was asked in the TV show Fleabag: Would you trade five years of your life for the so-called ‘perfect body’?
#13
You are the first human to make contact with an intelligent alien species. They say they would spare your life only if you don’t tell anyone about it. Would you tell someone anyway or keep quiet?
#14
You are a journalist who uncovers a terrible scandal that might bring down a powerful leader. However, exposing the truth will cause harm to innocent people and destabilize the whole country, affecting millions of people. What would you do?
#15
You see that a building is burning. A child and five elderly people are trapped in it. They are in different places, and you have a very limited time, so you have to choose. You could only save the child or the group of elderly people. Who do you save?
#16
You accidentally find a winning lottery ticket that initially belonged to someone that you know. The person who lost it didn’t know the ticket had won. And probably no one will ever find out what really happened, but it will weigh on your conscience. What would you do?
#17
Your friend has the most amazing spouse that makes them happy. They think they have found the one. At a dinner party, you hear the spouse talking to someone about how they got together in the first place, and you hear that it’s because of a bet. What would you do?
ॐBoyGanesh 5 hours ago
Just because it was a bet doesn’t mean the spouse isn’t happy & in love. That it was initiated in such a way has little to no bearing on how the relationship develops. At a time I was reveling in being single with no accountability to anyone, some friends dared me to go on a date with a friend of theirs that I met independently of them. We chatted daily online whilst I was visiting his/their city, 2500 miles from mine. It was a dare to go out with him & most of these friends had bet I wouldn’t go through with it. We just celebrated our 20th anniversary. All thanks to a dare & some bets.
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#18
There is a memory-erasing technology that allows you to forget about the painful things that happened in your past. But there is a slim chance that it might also delete some of your happy memories. What would you do?
#19
A new device could show you what might have become of your life had you made different choices in the past. Would you use it to see what could have happened, even though it might cause you pain and confusion?
#20
A brilliant scientist is terminally ill. She was about to discover a cure that would have saved millions of lives. Even though her body is not salvageable, her mind can be transferred to someone else’s to complete her studies. You are the only person whom they can transfer her mind to. Would you sacrifice your life and let them transfer her mind to you?
#21
You wake up in a creepy room with only two doors. You have forgotten who you are, what you do — even your name. They say you have to choose one room. If you go through the first door, you are guaranteed to have the perfect life, but you could never find out about your real life before. Or you could go through the second door to reality, where you have an imperfect yet real life. What would you do?
#22
I’m already quitting this thread, I can tell it’s going to upset me. It’s not that black and white. Yes if it was one bad company and lots of good ones and the difference wasn’t very stark, most people would buy from the good ones. (And very poor people wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t judge that.). And if it’s nearly every company and the few who are good cost five times as much, then almost nobody would. (Reality is closer to this, in many products.) The interesting question is where does each person flip from one to the other. What are your limits? What if you were richer than you are? What’s do you think constitutes worse behaviour from a company vs another? *Those* are interesting ethical questions. Nobody can answer this one without making assumptions and then we can’t tell anything from the answer if we don’t know what assumptions were made.
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