[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hen an ocean liner is torpedoed by a German U-Boat, seven disparate survivors are left adrift in a cramped lifeboat. Tensions are high enough until a final castaway appears.
The final survivor is one of the Nazi crew members who torpedoed their ship and is the only individual with any navigational skills.
Each of the seven must make a moral decision as to whether they should put their trust in this man who may -- or may not -- save them. A debate which brings out the best and worst in each of them.

[Pops]

The crewman was simplyfollowing orders. His duty. (Iraqi prison guards?)

The decision is; whose DNA survives.

I think the rule is: “Die if you must, but only to protect the DNA closest to yours.”

[Onyered]

The German sailor was actually the captain of the submarine. He betrayed the survivors trust by leading them to a rendezvous with another submarine. His agenda was not their survival it was his own. Placing your survival in the hands of another is OK as long as there is never a point where there is a conflict in agendas. But if one is unwilling to take responsibility for their own survival then …..

[Aaron]

Well bragging rights go to Onyered... correct.

I also meant to imply this is an analogy.

thoughts?

[Pops]

Guess I don't watch enough movies.

[WaterBearer]

The wisest thing to do would have been to make peace, obviously. Our inability to do so will ultimately provide for the destruction of billions of human lives.

[Onyered]

“The wisest thing to do would have been to make peace, obviously. Our inability to do so will ultimately provide for the destruction of billions of human lives.”

Uh, Yeah right. It this movie the survivors on the lifeboat made “peace” with the German. He hoarded supplies and then murdered a wounded man who caught him. The absence of war is not necessarily peace.

I guess you could say the Jews who went to the death camps and were murdered made “peace” with the Germans. Look how that turned out. But yes Peace, Peace at any cost!

[Aaron]

Good points guys... but.. lol

Trapped on a single lifeboat, survivors fight limited supplies, storms & sickness while stranded at sea.

Each surviver brings with them a personal history and point of view. Despite the common challenge of survival, the best & worst of the survives is exposed, as they are unable to let go of their differences as individuals to confront their common threat.

Failing to see their common plight, hate, mistrust, doubt, and violence ripple through the group, revealing that despite the dangers of being stranded at sea, the worst danger they face... is themselves.

Sound familiar?

[gg3]

I think Pops is simply incorrect when he says "the DNA closest to your own" is what matters. And that error propagates into a moral wrong.

As far as DNA is concerned, the majority-interests of the United States in the WW2 era would have been to join forces with the Nazis, form a European empire that would have included a subordinated UK and other unwilling participants, and then jointly subjugate the non-white races of the non-Asian world (e.g. Africa, the Middle East, Mexico, Central- and South- America), while forming a pact with Imperial Japan enabling it to subjugate the remainder of Asia notably China and probably including India.

In fact the case can even be made that doing so would have brought about a lower level of energy consumption because we would have had slaves and therefore not needed so much machinery!

You can see where that gets us, which is into a moral cesspool.

What matters more than genes, are the "memes" (ideas) that are closest to your own.

The memes that made for Western democracy have in the end proven far more powerful than the memes that would have made for fascist or communist empires, or the memes held by international terrorists currently. The memes held by Western science have in the end proven far more viable than the memes held by obscurantists, in terms of elucidating the nature of physical reality and turning that knowledge into benecifical results. In the long run, these meme-sets are what will get us through the crises of the 21st century.