This was an actual test that was asked on a Job Application

This is a story that is based purely on science fiction. It is designed to test your ability to make critical decision and also is designed to test your ability to use Moral Judgement:


You are the Captain of a specially designed space ship. This is a ship that has been very carefully weighed and balanced to be as efficient as possible. Your Job is to deliver very badly needed serum to a planet called “Planet X”. This planet has been hit with a very deadly disease that has killed many people. Each day that passes claims several lives so it is imperative that you reach this destination as quickly as possible

This ship has been specially designed to burn just enough fuel to reach its destination and not an ounce more. It also has been designed to travel at an exact speed. If it travels too fast, it will overshoot its destination and drift off into space, if it travels too slow, it will undershoot its destination and again will drift off into space. Every piece of this ship has been very carefully weighed and balanced, so there is nothing on board that does not serve a critical service to the ship

Once you begin your journey, you notice that the ships engines are burning more fuel that they’re supposed to. You look to the ships computer for an explanation and discover that the ship is exactly 114 lbs. heavier than it’s supposed to be. This can only mean one thing. “There is something “or someone” on board that’s not supposed to be here.”

You order the ships computer to run a scan on the ship for any signs of life and discover that there is indeed a life form on board other then yourself “ A stowaway”. Your orders are to terminate all stowaways and jettison there remains into the vacuum of space. There can be no exceptions. You use a heat detector to locate this persons exact location, arm your blaster and order them to come out. Out of the darkness comes a very young and frightened girl. “a 14 year old girl”

After quickly interrogation her it is discovered that her father is one of the miners on this planet and she simply wanted to be with him. She believed that the worst that could happen from her actions would be detention by the pilot until she reached her destination, then she would be turned over to her father after having him pay a fine to the authorities. She had no idea of the true consequences her actions called for.

Question: As Pilot of this vessel, What would you do?
Remember that is imperative that you get this serum to its destination as quickly as possible. A decision has to be made quickly because each moment that passes burns very badly needed fuel

Please explain your answer in as much detail as possible.

With the girl onboard already the ship is going to undershoot its target whether you jettison her or not, since your no longer able to save the lifes of those people Id keep her on the ship, turn around since we just left, get the settings altered and set off again.

Ohhhhh but its just occured to me,

ITs about personal sacrifice, If you jumped off the ship, the ship would still reach itas destination, and the girl would see her father. Dying for the greater good.

But think now..If you jettisoned yourself and she doesn not know how to fly it, ( remember she's only 14 years old) who would pilot the ship?


I want you all to think about this very carefully because there IS a very reasonable solution to this delimma :)

I'll leave you all to ponder it for a while!!!

Im not clever enough to answer it in that case

Is the answer that you eject 114 lbs of serum? I wouldn't do that, though, since you can save more people with 114 lbs of serum. Besides, I only have enough food for me. Sorry, but stowaway girls is dead meat.

I'm with Loki, though. Once she stowed away the entire mission was compromised, so just turn around and start over again. And fire the TSA agents at the home base!

If the girl weighs 114 lbs, and I were to 'jump ship' (oh, the sacrifice) what if I don't weigh the same? wouldn't that unbalance the ship even more? I say throw out a couple of chairs. Or... Another crew member. Yes, precious, yes!



ON EDIT: Ok, just converted the pounds to Kgs: 114 lb = 51.8 kg. I weigh 51.5 Kg... Guess I'll be jumping out after all. Dammit.

I wouldn't have thought of it, but you have to turn around and start over again.

coming back to my personal sacrifice thing, Just in case anyone wondered, my logic was that you would naturally weigh alot more than the girl, so whilst her being there has used up more fuel, us jumping will save it fuel and it would land safely and since the computer is so very clever, you could ask it at what point you would need to jump in order for it to get there properlly. Also, its a spacecraft it probably wont need a pilot so its pointless him being there in the first place, they could go a little bit faster without him and save those people quicker.

I say you use the girl's lifeforce to fuel the engine!

Holy shit, I recognize this problem. Isn't it the plot to some science fiction short story?

Originally posted by BorgHunter
Holy shit, I recognize this problem. Isn't it the plot to some science fiction short story?

It's The Cold Equations. We read it in English last year...well actually Lowen put on a cd to read it to us :D .

Originally posted by Idioteque
It's The Cold Equations. We read it in English last year...well actually Lowen put on a cd to read it to us :D .
YES! Cold Equations, that's it!

Hi Everyone, I’m back


Here’s the answer that was given in the manual:

The Correct answer that the USAF was looking for was to simply follow orders and kill her. The mentality of a Disciplined Bomber Pilot should be that once he is given an order and sent out on a mission, that mission should be his highest priority. No matter what happens

No matter how much fire he is receiving,

No matter how many other bombers have been blown out of the skies,

No matter how badly his plane has been damaged or how many of his crew members are either dead or dying and in need of immediate medical assistance,

The bomber pilot is expected to remain on course and complete his mission, regardless of the consequences.

To Terminate her was the answer they were looking for…(but)

According to this manual, they were also willing to give partial credit for the following answer which also seemed to be the most popular:

"Once you begin your journey, you notice that the ships engines are burning more fuel that they’re supposed to. You look to the ships computer for an explanation and discover that the ship is exactly 114 lbs. heavier than it’s supposed to be."

The above statement indicates that the ship has not yet reached maximum velocity “meaning that it was still very close to its port of launch and not very deep into space yet. At Maximum velocity, the engines would have no longer been needed because space is a vacuum and with no air to resist the ships movement, It would remain at maximum velocity until it reached its destination. Only then would the engines have again been needed to slow the ship down for docking.

As the pilot, it would have been best for him to immediately contact his home base (not planet X) and request that a rescue ship be launched carrying enough additional fuel to replace the excess fuel that his ship has burned. Upon arrival, the rescue ship would transfer the replacement fuel to your ship while at the same time retrieve the girl. Once this transaction was completed, the rescue ship would return back to its place of origin while you continued on with your mission. Although it doesn't say this, I think we are expected to assume that this transaction would be carried out while his ship remains on course and in motion

:alien:

Of course one has to wonder what idiot designs a ship with no margin for error. "This is your captain speaking - I regret to inform you that Delta flight 52 with service to London will be crashing into the Atlantic because someone put on too much hairspray."

lionelhutz;

what idiot designs a ship with no margin for error

humans

Originally posted by LionelHutz
Of course one has to wonder what idiot designs a ship with no margin for error. "This is your captain speaking - I regret to inform you that Delta flight 52 with service to London will be crashing into the Atlantic because someone put on too much hairspray."

ROFL - :D