Right to life

[Drax]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

To Drax:
The isolation rule isn't a policy of the islanders.

Exactly. It's the leader's, and any truly benevolent leader would change his policies to benefit his people.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

To Drax:
The isolation rule isn't a policy of the islanders. It is one of the rules that were stipulated when the thought experiment was set out. Tinkering with this defeats the point of thinking about it at all. While I like your lateral thinking, in this case, it doesn't fit the situation.

Originally Posted by Drax

Exactly. It's the leader's, and any truly benevolent leader would change his policies to benefit his people.

Exactly, not.
The isolation rule isn't a policy of the islanders. It isn't a policy of the leader. It isn't a policy at all.
It is one of the rules stipulated when the thought experiment was designed. The island is isolated by geography, by the nature of things. There are no other islands within reach.

The point of this example is to make us think about situations where there are too many people and not enough resources.
This is worth thinking about because planet Earth is rapidly heading toward that situation, if it isn't there already.
Your solution involves suddenly adding extra resources. In the context of thinking about planet Earth, you solution is akin to suggesting we send people off to another habitable planet nearby. Problem is, there are no habitable planets we can reach, or even that we (yet) know about.