Hello again! Back with a new post!

So a question on my introduction came up as to my thoughts on the future. In particular, how to best go about our lives as a race in the two conditions: space travel, and no space travel. In addition, how I think things would turn out if we continued on the path right now.

Beautiful question! Let's inspect this...

So, life in the future. Such a tricky thing to predict! With space travel, life will be a lot more easy to sustain. The current population crisis could easily be solved with access to other planets and the potential to establish life sustaining colonies. The carrying capacity of our species could be near infinitely increased as our access to space does. Space travel could become a whole industry and cause a drastic increase in economic stimulation. Jobs would become available, and money would be spent on the opportunity to travel throughout space. The other side of things would be the new resources discovered. Could be used to improve the lifestyle of mankind, or used as a destructive force. I still believe though that the increase in the occupyable space for humans would trump any dangerous downsides and that the best course of action would be to spread our species far and wide across the universe for maximum chance to survive and thrive.

Future without time travel is a whole different story. With the population increasing rapidly and things like nuclear wars and climate changes a constantly looming threat, there is a lot to worry about. I fear for a population overflow. The depletion of resources would cause crashes in the economy and force people's lifestyles to change. I think that isolated and reinforced communities may be our best chance. That way, if life on the outside fails, the isolated colonies might be able to help repopulate the planet and live on. Without any sort of plan in place, I believe that the world will overpopulate and deplete resources until we resort to violence and thievery.

The future will be interesting to watch unfold, and we'll all live through it. We can't hope for things to work out, we need to make them.

Any thoughts on this or any suggestions for new posts? A lovely comment or email will keep these thoughts flowing! Thanks again.

And just like that, we have our first topic!

I received an inquiry from a good friend of mine on my thoughts with regards to a moral dilemma. The below is the dilemma itself:

"You are an emergency worker that has just been called to the scene of an accident. When you arrive you see that the car belongs to your wife. Fearing the worst you rush over to see she is trapped in her car with another man. She sees you and although barely conscious, she manages to mouth the words “I’m sorry”… You don’t understand, but her look answers you question. The man next to her is her lover with whom she’s been having an affair. You reel back in shock, devastated by what her eyes have just told you. As you step back, the wreck in front of you comes into focus. You see your wife is seriously hurt and she needs attention straight away. Even if she gets attention there’s a very high chance she’ll die. You look at the seat next to her and see her lover. He’s bleeding heavily from a wound to the neck and you need to stem the flow of blood immediately. It will only take about 5 minutes to stop, but it will mean your wife will definitely die. If you tend to your wife however, the man will bleed to death despite the fact it could have been avoided. Who would you choose to work on?"
Oooooh! Tough questions, my favourite!

So this scenario seems to be a battle between emotion and responsibility. As an emergency worker, my job is to save lives. The total number of lives saved is the ultimate goal, and with the wife being unlikely to save, the right move would be to try to save the man. Things would be simple if we weren't humans. We all have emotions. Empathy, compassion, forgiveness, anger, and love all play a roll in our decisions in everyday life. An extreme situation like this one is no exception. So many things can be running through my head at that point in time, and it's hard to think of what I would actually do in that scenario with only moments to think. It's easier for me to sit back and answer this question when I have time and a level head, but in that moment, I could be overrun with emotion.

So, in perfect honesty, if I were in that scenario, I would likely attempt to rescue my wife. The reason being that the realization of her odds of survival wouldn't come to mind fast enough and clear enough to overrule the emotional empowerment to save that who is closest to me. I know that some people might reason to save the man due to the betrayal by the wife, but in my eyes, I couldn't imagine being that mad. For me, I believe in love as an individual thing. You are not in love with someone only when they love you back. It's a tough kind of love, but it exists. My wife may have cheated on me, but it doesn't mean I don't still love her the very same if she hadn't. I would feel hurt that she didn't feel as strongly for me or that she'd risk our relationship, but I'd still love her. That emotional tie of seeing her injured would be enough to make me react not by thought and reason, but almost by instinct. It would just feel like the right thing to do at the time.

Overall, I know that looking back after I make either decision, I'd feel regret. If I tried to save the man, I'd regret letting her die on me, and question my love for her in the first place. If I tried to save her and failed, I'd regret abandoning my duties as an emergency worker and live my life in shame, and heartbroken. On the slim chance that she survived would I be happiest, but even so, have a severely wrecked marriage, and the next moral dilemma of whether I'd want her back or not. In the scenario where she lives, and we divorce, I would still feel better that someone I love lived on, even if I had to let her go. Tough call to make, with life altering repercussions.

The question was superb, and I can't thank you enough for it. If ever faced with that scenario, I now know what I'd do. Thanks again for the brilliant first question of many to come. At least I hope :)

Well, there's no way to make this introduction less awkward, so let's get started!

I'm Ben. I'm just a guy who thinks way too much for his own good. My thoughts wander and take me weird places. I, as a thinker, LOVE tough questions. No, not math or science problems, but anything that tests my brain philosophically. I've lived a life., I've met many people, I've made many mistakes, and I've thought about it all. I'm just one normal guy.

I've created this blog as a way to test my brain. To see who I am as a person, and what I truly think about all sorts of things. I decided to make this an interactive thing. To allow people to suggest topics or to ask questions to help keep me thinking. This is just as much a blog to express my thoughts and opinions as it is an advice blog. I take all real questions seriously and hope to share bits of my head in text. I truly hope that you, my soon to be audience, will kindly provide me with suggestions for material that I can share my thoughts on.

So, that's my plan. This blog will change and evolve as the posts start coming out so I'll just keep you posted on that. If you have any questions or recommendations for future posts, please comment on any existing posts or send them by email to bestrouteforward@gmail.com.

Thank you again for any contribution to this blog and I hope you enjoy!