Thread: Would you run over a human to dodge a cat?

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

Dogs have a used car salesman element to their personalities that no other animal has, except some humans. I'm not a huge fan of cats either, but at least cats aren't obsessed with how they can sucker every human they see.

I was really exaggerating my opinion of dogs. I actually like dogs, sort of. But I don't have the same view I once had of them. I used to love dogs almost as much as people. Then I adopted some adult dogs whose owners couldn't take care of them and saw something in them that I see in every dog I come across now. They are extrememly manipulative and only like you as far as what you can do for them. But I wouldn't really kill a dog unless I had to. If I had that in me, I would have killed my last two dogs.

You've been around the wrong dogs. My dogs have always been great. It's all about how you raise them, just like humans. Cats are just as manipulative. You can't train them or raise them properly either, they will always act the way they want. I wouldn't run over a cat for fun though, because I did that once. After the hours of laughing I felt slightly bad, so no more cats. Cats are the best "rodent". Yes they are a rodent in my opinion, but I know they aren't literally. It's still a game for me to run over other rodents though. (3 squirrels, 1 armadillo, countless snakes, 1 rabbit, 1 poor cat) R.I.P. But hey, I'm helping out the world. It gives bacteria and decomposers and scavengers something to feed on. That's the way I look at it.... not really, it's just plain fun.

The armadillo was like a friggen speed bump, haha.

Well, there's a lot more humans I don't like than cats, so I'd probably run down the human. Actually, I'd probably run down the human regardless of a cat in the vicinity.

Depends what kind of human.

lol replace cat with baby then we have a real situation.

Only an idiot would hit a human before a cat.

I like this thread

Cats are awesome, and so are dogs. They make people happy by keeping them company, which is something many people don't have in our cruel society. Without them, I probably would have been one dead dodo decades ago.

Originally Posted by jaasum

lol replace cat with baby then we have a real situation.

Ow, that's really hard.

If you look at the practical disruption - jobs, relationships, the number of people who'd go to the funeral - the baby's onto a loser. But there's definitely a "women and children first" ethic, and the baby's got much longer to live (on average).

I'd go for the man. Much safer to stay on the road than swerve onto the pavement. Even if it makes a bigger dent in the car :-).

Well if you do not have time to slam on the breaks, then you probably do not have much time to "decide" and have to go with instinct. Unfortunately most of us have the instinct to swerve to avoid hitting anything - so you would probably hit the person without realizing what you are doing. Well slam on the breaks AND swerve, which actually might end up saving them both

I know what you mean though and tbh Im not sure, its really one of those situations where whatever you decide you will be haunted for the rest of your days.

If I could slow time down and decide I think the moral decision would be to hit the cat, just because if you allow yourself to hit the cat, you are not actively doing anything wrong - it was just bad luck. Whereas if you swerve to hit a person you are actively decided who deserves to live and die and THAT to me is wrong.

When I was studying philosophy in college, one of the moral dilemmas we discussed was:

If you are standing near a split train track and the train is going to hit a bus full of people if you do nothing, or a car full of people if you pull the switch, which would you do. Personally even though the utilitarian view would be to save the bus and condemn the car, I really dont think this is the correct moral view since my actions would kill the people in the car, and the people in the bus would die if I was never there so I could hardly be blamed for it.

Originally Posted by dodobird

Cats are awesome, and so are dogs. They make people happy by keeping them company, which is something many people don't have in our cruel society. Without them, I probably would have been one dead dodo decades ago.

Pun intended?

I'm sure it was completely intentional, Jeff.


Amelaclya: I don't think you have to go as far as "utilitarian" to doom that car. I see how you can disclaim responsibility for the deaths. But the setup for these scenarios is usually that you have enough time to see the consequences of each possible action or inaction and react on a level above instinct; if I'd gone through that process I would feel much more guilty if I let everyone in the bus die.

In fact, [url="http://www.rifters.com/real/newscrawl_2007.htm#04-04-07"]Teh Intarwebz[url] tells me you're in a minority here; assuming you can save a significant number of people, it seems most people say they *would* switch the points. But the same source says they would still be likely to act on human biases rather than pure utilitarian philosophy in other situations.


P.S.: Long live cats!
Unfortunately I've moved and I no longer get other peoples cats jumping through my ground floor bedroom window. This was a window that opened just enough to fit a cat body through, and was over a metre above ground level, by the way.

I read this Topic's title and can without a shadow of a doubt answer: "Yes"
To me cats are not just good company: They're the best company I've ever had. And even beyond that they have magical powers. Cats are sacred to me. I've got 3 feline miracles in my house and they're always honost, direct and kind.

The magic of which I speak: I was in tears again over this cursed ex lady of mine and every human being entering my room to calm me down I would have rudely removed from my room and tell them to "leave me the fuck alone", but then my cat entered.

He didn't shower me with stupid solutions or poor attempts at comforting me with words.
That's what I like about cats. I was loosing my mind cuz I couldn't sleep, AGAIN, because I was sad over this girl. My dearest cat just came and sat down next to me. His sympathetic presence is always a bliss but it was especially at that moment.

I put my hand on his head and asked him " Can I borrow some of your Cat-Tranquility?"
I soothed down completely and his positive vibrations unhooked me and released me from that emotional depression. I was sleeping withing minutes with him sleeping next to me.

There's too many people, with to much bullshit anywayz. I value a cat more than any human being, allthough I'd rather not run over any living creature. Cats über alles

I believe in universal equality so I wouldn't choose one over the other, I'd probably just slow down and honk the horn really loudly so the cat would run away.

This is one of those hypothetical "There are no other options" discussions where a choice between the two must be made.

Having two cats, I don't think they are inferior to humans, despite their lower intellect. They have feelings too.

But if it came to push I would run over the cat. The primary reason would be that it would be considered a serious offence to run over the human, and I would if caught get into jail for 5-10 years if not more.

Originally Posted by SKA

"Can I borrow some of your Cat-Tranquility?"

haha, I'll have to remember to ask my cats that next time I'm having a bad day.

oh yeah, the original question...is the person a drifter?

I would jump out of the car.

Some decisions are too hard.

of course I would pick the cat....I would also run over a cat to dodge a dog if that was the choice....I dont have a high opinion of cats

"...a person (a total stranger you've never seen or heard of) is walking in the other lane, and a cat you've never seen or heard of jumps into your lane and right in front of you, what do you do? Let's say that you are going too fast to put on the brakes and save both of them. Let's also say that the road is so narrow that it is impossible to swerve and avoid both of them. You have to hit either the person or the cat. Which one would you hit? Why?"

Originally Posted by Lord_Pwnage

I believe in universal equality so I wouldn't choose one over the other, I'd probably just slow down and honk the horn really loudly so the cat would run away.

You have to hit either the person or the cat. Which one would you hit? Why?

Originally Posted by paperdoll

oh yeah, the original question...is the person a drifter?

...a total stranger you've never seen or heard of

Originally Posted by grasshoppa

I would jump out of the car.

Some decisions are too hard.

You have to hit either the person or the cat. Which one would you hit? Why?


If you aren't going to do it right, then don't post.

Man can't make a joke?

I would run over the cat. It's really not that hard of a question to answer. When it comes down to it, I would feel much better killing a cat for a human than a human for a cat. Simple.

Originally Posted by grasshoppa

Man can't make a joke?

I would run over the cat. It's really not that hard of a question to answer. When it comes down to it, I would feel much better killing a cat for a human than a human for a cat. Simple.

Forgiveness. It's difficult to tell who's serious and who's trying to tiptoe around the question (while still trying to appear that they've answered the question) with some lame half hearted minded drivel.

NO need for forgiveness...my humor is rather dry.

well I read the first post but didn't bother with the after...this is a very good question. I have seen tragedies happen to people...I've seen people die and now its no more than a regular part of life for me. Lots of people can watch "Saw" the movie and people have no problems. But if you were to watch a movie depicted torure or murder of animals many would be sickened. It's because human death is a regular thing, it's in movies and tv and books etc. But it's not everyday that you see a dog gettings brutally beaten to death with a bat. That disgusts people but people being blown up and shot doesn't. Its kinda peculiar.

Originally Posted by grasshoppa

I would jump out of the car.

Some decisions are too hard.

I found that very funny. Especially becaused I pictured the person in your avatar doing it.

I would run over the cat but feel ridiculously guilty about it though. When it comes down to it , perhaps the consequences of running over a human aren't worth it.

mindwanderer, I don't agree with you. I think that the reason why torturing a cat or dog or whatever is so sickening is because they are helpless creatures compared to us. When one human is torturing another, at least the two humans are relatively equal in terms of strength and mental capacities.

(Yeah, I totally entered this thread by just reading the last few posts.)

Originally Posted by mindwanderer

But it's not everyday that you see a dog gettings brutally beaten to death with a bat. That disgusts people but people being blown up and shot doesn't. Its kinda peculiar.

At the level your talking about, its also because animals are cute and furry. I think its supposed to be because they often look child-like, and we are more concerned when children get hurt.

Or to take your point specifically: stories about animals are usually children's stories, which are usually less violent than Saw - so we grow up with cute, fluffy animals who aren't getting beaten to death, and when we go on to stories about people being beaten to death, they're not about animals anymore.