World Trade Center news updates and discussion.

[Ted]

Withdrawing my statement, misread something. The new WTC is taller by about 200 metres  :poke:

That's assuming the spire will be placed on top of One World Trade Centre and if it is it will be the tallest building in the US.

[SugarD]

The comments regarding hopeful terrorist attacks and death on other users are not welcome here. Keep it out of the topic.

[Antonio.]

I wonder who the next "terrorists" are...

[Ted]

Tried to collect some 'Past, Present and future' images from internet searches.

I've changed the topic title a little so we can place all related updates here.

[JDC]

By blowing the plane up you kill the passengers and create a high risk of people being crushed or blown up by calling parts so I guess your right.

If you were forced to choose between two procedures in a worst-case scenario where one option would cause 500 deaths in one day (terrorist-controlled plane blows up in the sky, killing all passengers and about two dozen passerby below from the debris / crash) with the other causing 50,000 over the next ten years (terrorist-controlled plane crashes into the new WTC / olympic stadium, killing at least 20,000 with many others afflicted by health problems following the incident), the better choice is obvious.

[SugarD]

If you were forced to choose between two procedures in a worst-case scenario where one option would cause 500 deaths in one day (terrorist-controlled plane blows up in the sky, killing all passengers and about two dozen passerby below from the debris / crash) with the other causing 50,000 over the next ten years (terrorist-controlled plane crashes into the new WTC / olympic stadium, killing at least 20,000 with many others afflicted by health problems following the incident), the better choice is obvious.

There is no better choice there.

[JDC]

There is no better choice there.

Then what will you do if you spotted a plane headed for the area, due to crash in 5 minutes?

[SugarD]

Then what will you do if you spotted a plane headed for the area, due to crash in 5 minutes?

Try to contact the plane first...

[Pandalink]

There is no better choice there.

It reminds me of the "trolley problem" in ethics, where a trolley is hurtling towards five people on the tracks (and will kill them if it hits them), but you are on a bridge above the track. Next to you is a fat man that (in the hypothetical scenario) will stop the trolley before it hits the five if he gets in the way, killing him instead.
Mathematics would dictate that one should push the man over the edge, as you will save 5 and lose 1, instead of losing 5. However, many disagree with that course of action, stating that nothing should be done, as the fat man is in some way not involved (as he is not in danger unless you push him) whilst the 5 already are in danger.

That said, JDC's situation is a fairly easy one, with the first option being quite clearly the better course of action, IMO.
Even so, the families of the two dozen below (i.e. the uninvolved man in the situation above) would never forgive the person who was forced to decide and take action, even if tens of thousands were saved because of it.

[JDC]

Try to contact the plane first...

If a plane has been hijacked and is heading for the area at full speed, I doubt they will listen to logical reasoning attempts.

It could be politics, it could be religion. But extremists are extremists, and nothing will stop them from pursuing their goal, even if it means the loss of their own lives.

Even so, the families of the two dozen below (i.e. the uninvolved man in the situation above) would never forgive the person who was forced to decide and take action, even if tens of thousands were saved because of it.

If there is no other choice, then some sacrifices would have to be made, if it meant saving the majority from sure destruction. Whether those afflicted by the sacrifice will understand it or not, is another story.

[SugarD]

If a plane has been hijacked and is heading for the area at full speed, I doubt they will listen to logical reasoning attempts.

How do you know it's hijacked and not just a miscommunication or a crashing plane? You never said the scenario included a hijacked plane. Regardless, any death is still unacceptable. It may not be avoidable, but saying that one scenario is "better" than the other would be a misnomer. No one deserves to die...and math doesn't really justify that.

[Emre]

It's a moral thing. Just like Sugar said, the amount doesn't matter.

[SafetyMoose]

How do you know it's hijacked and not just a miscommunication or a crashing plane? You never said the scenario included a hijacked plane. Regardless, any death is still unacceptable. It may not be avoidable, but saying that one scenario is "better" than the other would be a misnomer. No one deserves to die...and math doesn't really justify that.

Welcome to the real world. People are gonna die and you obviously dont have the capacity to ever make a life and death situation. But, most people don't so thats OK.

[JDC]

Welcome to the real world. People are gonna die and you obviously dont have the capacity to ever make a life and death situation. But, most people don't so thats OK.

Could not have said it better.

In the real world, things happen that are out of control, things that are not pretty... things that will require us to make some distasteful sacrifices in order to prevent an even bigger disaster.

This dilemma is what President Harry Truman was faced with when he decided to drop the bomb. In doing so, he crushed two Japanese cities and sunk their morale, but he also saved the lives of millions of weary allied soldiers who would have died in an invasion of Japan, and that includes many of your cherished american boys.

Realistically speaking, blowing a plane out of the sky and killing 600 in a day to save the lives of 60,000 who would directly suffer over the next 10 years is the more strategic decision. It's not pretty, but it's not like we can rub a lamp and wish for the genie to magically land the plane at an airport damage-free either.

In matters of life and death where you have no other choice, you have to choose between the lesser of two evils...

[Ted]

They have three tennants for One World Trade Center one most recently being 'GSA'.