the rules are:
1)you can't choose yourself
2)you must choose 4 people
3)you must explain your choices

i added rule 1 to make it much more difficult, when i did this in high school self sacrifice was one of the choices i made, and it completely surprised not only my teacher but the whole class.

the situation:

there was a nuclear war. you and 7 other people are in a bomb shelter. there is only enough food to feed 4 people for 4 months.

with you are;
a doctor in his mid 40's,
a prostitute in her 30's,
a mother in her 20's nursing a sick infant,
2 children(a brother and sister),
an elderly woman,
a young man around 18 in a wheel chair.

you have to sacrifice 4 people in order for the others to survive, who do you choose and why?

without rule 1 it is a tough challenge, i suspect it to be even tougher with it.

i won't repost the other responses to this...i'll leave that for those that did respond if they so choose...

this is an interesting little dilemma...

oh and i count the mother and infant as 1 not 2 since the infant is still at nursing age...mothers milk and all that....

Well - i count them as 2 -

think about it (whilst your answer is also correct) but...

The child is 'ill' - it uses/drains resources from its mother - thus she (theoretically) should be allowed 'larger' rations to compensate for her bioload.

Also - is the child contagious? - what is the illness? would it pass? would the child be permanently damaged from it?

A nuke bunker is an enclosed environment - its exactly like a fishtank - whatever goes in to a creature - comes out and needs dealing with - anyone who has had kids knows how much 'mess' they make - also - air is a consideration - screaming kids - possibly running a fever etc - let alone the stress on the other people.

Like a fishtank - what ever goes into the system - stays in the system - just transformed - problem is that the output is often toxic.

Of course - I could then say kill mother and child - kill two birds with one stone so to speak - and keep the little sister alive in the mom n sprogs place

Of course - there is plan C - play a lottery game

the lottery....i remember reading that...
as to the sick spawn, that's why i would have the dr. diagnose...

of course could always just have a battle royal...losers get eaten...that would solve part of the food issue....