Five Guys on a Boat

A Life & Death Tale of Minds & Meaning

Once upon a time, a ship sunk at sea, and five survivors ended up adrift in a small lifeboat. They were a curious mix of total strangers: a scientist, an engineer, an artist, a philosopher, and a priest. After several miserable days adrift, a storm approached, and it became obvious that the boat was too small to stay afloat with all five passengers. They agreed that if any were going to survive, one of them would have to go.

The philosopher suggested that each one explain his views on the purpose of life; then they would vote and rank the five worldviews, best to worst. The person with the lowest-scoring worldview could be presumed to have the least to lose and therefore should go overboard.

Of course, they all hated the...