Would you stand naked in front of a stranger just going to die?

by Amrit Hallan on July 6, 2010

Would you? I mean, assume there’s a person — a stranger — in the room who you know is going to die soon and before dying there is a 100% chance he or she is not going to see anybody else or talk to anybody. I don’t mean you specifically shed your clothes in front of that person…you just don’t mind entering the room after bath with nothing on, or changing your clothes or simply taking your clothes off on a very hot and humid summer day.

This is a hypothetical question and of course you may come up with oh this can’t happen or that can’t happen or why would I be in a room with a stranger who is about to die, etc. Valid questions, but I’m just interested in the part: would you feel OK to be naked in front of a person who will die without telling anybody that he or she saw you naked?

http://www.teerathyatra.com J

i would stand naked in front of a person even if s/he isn’t going to die. what’s the issue again?
http://www.teerathyatra.com J

yes, stranger.
http://www.amrithallan.com Amrit

Ah, well, I had “normal” people in mind when I wrote this, those who think their nakedness is private and who attach a sense of respect to how they appear in front of others.
http://www.teerathyatra.com J

thanks for calling me abnormal, yet again. and there is no relationship between nakedness and respect. you can’t even compare .. it’s like apples and oranges … i appear as myself in front of others, that IS respectful. how they perceive it, is not my problem now, is it ..?
http://www.amrithallan.com Amrit

Yup, the usual loop. So

while($debate==”on”)
{
break;
}
http://www.teerathyatra.com J
tp

If there was a person in front of me and that person is dying, i would have spit on that person.
heeeheeeeeheeeeee.
i could have not taken my clothes off.
http://roadtokhalistan.blogspot.com/ Mai Harinder Kaur

As an Amritdhari Sikh, I am never naked. I guess I might have my kechera around my ankles. If that’s close enough to naked, I certainly would have no trouble with another woman. Given my health problems, I am often naked (or nearly so) around strange women and they’re usually not dying. A man? A strange man? Unless there were some very good reason, no, I don’t think so. I guess I do have some ladylike modesty, after all.

BTW, Amrit ji, I love this design with the 3-d letters. I keep wanting to touch it.
http://clutterfrommymind.blogspot.com Ashish

I would. Without hesitation.
http://roadtokhalistan.blogspot.com/ Mai Harinder Kaur

I think there would be a big difference in attitude on this between men and women. I would guess most men would, most women wouldn’t.
http://dlwjiang.com david

Maybe some questions have constraints that are too hard to imagine?

Like imagine a creepy crawly bug or a turd on the ground. Could you pinpoint the amount of money you would be willing to accept to place said object into your mouth and eat it?

As for the actual question, I think not…the actual negative emotion comes from another being having a negative view of you. (The various ultimatum experiments) And in this thought experiment that one other person counts.(His or her look of disgust) If rephrased in say… instantly killing the stranger upon standing naked…emotionally…a bit more willing though. (He gets to go to heaven in exchange…)