SHOULD WE KILL HEALTHY PEOPLE FOR THEIR ORGANS?

Suppose Bill is a healthy man without family or loved ones. Would it be OK painlessly to kill him if his organs would save five people, one of whom needs a heart, another a kidney, and so on? If not, why not?

Consider another case: you and six others are kidnapped, and the kidnapper somehow persuades you that if you shoot dead one of the other hostages, he will set the remaining five free, whereas if you do not, he will shoot all six. (Either way, he'll release you.)

If in this case you should kill one to save five, why not in the previous, organs case? If in this case too you have qualms, consider yet another: you're in the cab of a runaway tram and see five people tied to the track ahead. You have the option of sending the tram on to the track forking off to the left, on which only one person is tied. Surely you should send the tram left, killing one to save five.

But then why not kill Bill?

This was listed as a serious question in Four philosophical questions to make your brain hurt , and I must admit that after reading this one my brain did hurt. Not because my brain was stumped with the complexity of this question, but by the sheer stupidity of the two analogies given to justify this argument. If you look closely, you will notice that both analogies are alterations on the Ticking Time bomb Scenario, and in truth have very little connection to the first argument. I will one day go into how I feel about the time bomb scenario, but for now I would like to just stick to this issue.

Let us try to solve this problem like adults. First, how will Bill be presented with this choice? I noticed no one asked Bill his opinion on the matter. Will he be sent a letter by the state that says he must turn himself in? Let us take it further.. if he says no, will the police hunt him down? Also, if he is captured and his organs are taken, will there be a place to go so that it is known that these five very important people now live by the forced sacrifice of Bill? A website where each of the five people can express their gratitude to Bill... the background image for the website can be Edvard Munch's The Scream.

You might have guessed that I'm against this idea already. Why?
I will answer that by writing an imaginary dialogue with the lonely Bills of the world:

If by chance you live alone, have no friends, and find it difficult to be social in general for reasons that seem mysterious to you.. go out immediately and get a gun. Protect yourself while you try to figure out why you are so alone. Purchase a couple of guns in case one does not work. If anyone comes to your door with what seems like official serious business, and you do not know them, just blow them away. Do not ask questions. You will need to keep on the run during this lonely portion of your life, but do your best to stay hidden while you try to make friends. Even if it is difficult, do your best to make at least one friend. Fake it if necessary. Tell a couple of people around you that hate your guts to at least say to the state that you are their friend. Get at least one of them to say that, in a way, they might even love you. You will definitely need at least one person that expresses love for you.. because in times of need the state might relax the law to exclude those who only have friends. A loved one might keep you alive longer. Get that friend! Make someone love you.. quick. Only large powerful majorities matter! Single entities have no meaning! And trust nobody.. because they might want your liver.

Suffering is incorrect. Being alone is incorrect. The greatest happiness for the greatest majority is the goal. Once we reach it, all will be solved.

Life that is unsocial is not life. Only the group is alive. There are no individuals in the world. The state is alive. Each person inside the state is not alive. A person that lives only for 20 years in ecstacy is of lesser worth than the person that lives for 100 years in a mild happiness. A person alone is the most worthless person in the world. The greatest of all of these is the person that lives the most years, with the most happiness, with the most friends and loved ones.

The goal of everything in the universe is a good feeling of being socially connected. Pop a pill to get along with people if you find it is difficult.