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I was reading one of new favorite comic book's 'Irredeemable', today...and I got to thinking. How does a hero feel when he has to make a tough decision in a time of crisis? How does he decide who he can and can't save? How does ASTRO decide..during times of crisis..who he can..and CAN'T save? In the comic...a super hero by the name of 'The Plutonian' was laying down a foundation of diamond on the island of Singapore so he would have something hard enough with which to push the entire island into the sea with. An old comrade of his pleaded with him to stop because there were so many millions of lives at stake..and the The Plutonian responded.."Choose TEN." "You asked me once before what it felt like to be a god in the eye's of so many..CHOOSE TEN out of these four million I will extinguish. And you'll know EXACTLY how it feels."

How do you guys think Astro as a hero feels when tasked with making decisions like this? T.T

I can imagine that he probably feels horrible. I could never make a decision like that. If I were in a situation like that, I would do my best to figure out a way to get around it, a way to make it all work out. I would never sop trying to find out how to make it so that everyone could be saved since I would never be able to live with the fact that there were those that I could have saved that had died. I bet Astro would feel that way and would go crazy with the lives of millions of people on his hands in a situation like that.

Yep, luckily for him that never happened. Or has it? Anyway, it is really hard and going around that is a great idea, although saving some is better than not saving any. Although you'll feel horrible that people have died in your hands and live a life filled with remorse... but sometimes, there is no other way.

Holy crap, got a bit carried away there...

Now here's a question... if Astro could save ONLY 5 people, who would they be?

thats a tough one, because, he has lot's of friends and family...

Oh my god, he'd probably feel so horrible about it. Oh man, the very thought of him going through something like that makes me... sad. T_T

"SpaceCookie" wrote:I was reading one of new favorite comic book's 'Irredeemable', today...and I got to thinking. How does a hero feel when he has to make a tough decision in a time of crisis? How does he decide who he can and can't save? How does ASTRO decide..during times of crisis..who he can..and CAN'T save? In the comic...a super hero by the name of 'The Plutonian' was laying down a foundation of diamond on the island of Singapore so he would have something hard enough with which to push the entire island into the sea with. An old comrade of his pleaded with him to stop because there were so many millions of lives at stake..and the The Plutonian responded.."Choose TEN." "You asked me once before what it felt like to be a god in the eye's of so many..CHOOSE TEN out of these four million I will extinguish. And you'll know EXACTLY how it feels."

How do you guys think Astro as a hero feels when tasked with making decisions like this? T.T

For me , I would freeze up and get flustered with emotion. How the heck are you going to decide at a moment's notice who lives and who dies, and then have to live with it for the rest of your mortal life? There is a similar dilemma in the field of medicine, which Tezuka was proficient in, where the question to many doctors is "Do I kill this one man to save five people with his organs?" and this logical and very reasonable dilemma appears in various other fields of philosophical thought , especially Vulcan.

This is the greatest dilemma anyone, let alone a hero, could ever face. Before you even respond with what you WOULD do , consider this:

Imagine yourself in this same situation. A psychopathic killer comes into your home and ties all of your friends and family up and then tells you

"You have to kill HALF of them in order to save yourself and the other half, lest everyone dies including you!"

In this crowd of tied up people are your parents, two of your best friends , 8 of your regular everyday friends and your pregnant fiancee who is 3 months pregnant with your daughter. Would you kill your beloved parents to save you best friends , vice versa or would you kill your fiancee and your child to save two more of your regular friends?

Now let's expand that to people you don't exactly like ,those who have harmed you or scarred you in any way or just those people who are jsut douches for the hell of it. Out of these people there are three. Would you KILL them for the sake of saving your parents, not even considering that everybody , including you ,is damaged in their own way that leads them to act how they are?

Also in this situation , you only have 5 minutes to make it , otherwise everybody dies... unless you have another plan to disarm him. But what if he has the place rigged , there are his lackies...etcetera , etc.

What if you are pro-life and the only way to save everyone is to kill that person? Is the death of one worth protecting the many ,or are the deaths of many worth protecting the few?

You see how mind numbingly hard it would be just in that scenario for an average joe ,but for a superhero , it magnifies to cities, countries maybe the world. If this was in Astro's case, he'd be devastated because either way , he cannot prevent any deaths. Out of all the people he loves , that are alot ,he'd have to lose many more of them , if not regular citizens and whatnot.

Sure he could try to find another way, but what if he is an irrational psycho who would kill them all and the city? You cannot reason with those types , you can only subdue or kill them in many cases. Probably Astro would sacrifice himself for his loved ones so they would all go on living since he does not want suffering or death of any kind from his own hands as that is the logical and some say rightful choice which he has done in many situations.

But if it was me on the spot, I'd choose the five people who mean the most to me in my life and I'm sure I'd feel horrible for the many other deaths, but really it depends on who you are as a person and your own life experience. Call me a coward , but as much as I want to die honorably for those I love , I'd much rather die in my sleep peacefully. Is that human to think so? Is it selfish to want to save your close-knit group of friends and family?

It probably is, but that's the curse of being a human being , if not a robot with kokoro.

Wow...thanks guys. ^^ I didn't expect so many responses on this since it was such a sad topic. I appreciate it.

Great question. I think Astro, coming from a place of pure logic where emotions can be set aside, would sacrifice the least to save the most - basically what he did to himself at the end (save the earth by sacrificing his own life). I don't see that as heartless or cold, but as having an exceptional sense of purpose and/or faith.

As for selecting 10 people, I don't believe he'd do it -- he'd risk lives more to possibly save more.

I would think that being a robot, Astro would do what the robot did in the movie I-ROBOT. It crunched the numerics of the situation and went with the law of averages in favor of the lives he could save. But you know the little guy would probably come up with a solution to save every life. Like James Kirk said..."I don't believe in a no win situation."

I think like April. After all, he's a computer capable to understand human feelings and will try to make the most rational choice and evolve from there, like when he unnaturally (it was stated that Astro was created to be sincere) made up a merciful lie when Truth was.. Er... Neutralized.