Was the lottery real?

[cpt_ahab]

I know that there's at least one other thread on the lottery and the question of its morality etc. What I'm wondering about here is whether the lottery was actually done legitimately.

This is a show that has always been concerned with (to quote SGU) the greater good. There are a number of episodes in which individuals realize that they must sacrifice others in order to save the majority. Whether this means leaving members behind, or sending people out on lethally risky missions.

Now take into account the fact that the two other commanding individuals, Rush and Chamille, both recommend to Young that he CHOOSE ALL 17 MEMBERS. That of-course is the right thing to do. If the shuttle crew does make it to a planet, and yet don't have a full complement of skills, then all 17 crew members would be expected to die. And yet it would not be fair to tell everyone (i.e. all the members of Destiny) that they have no hope and will die.

What I wonder is whether perhaps Young faked the lottery for the good of all: the good of those left behind and the good of those sent off in the shuttle? What do you guys think? And take into account the actual people who "won" the lottery. Random?

[General Jumper One]

I think he did it at random

[lordofseas]

I think he did it at random

Agreed.

[J-Whitt Remastered]

I think that there is no reason to assume it was anything other than a lottery.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

I know that there's at least one other thread on the lottery and the question of its morality etc. What I'm wondering about here is whether the lottery was actually done legitimately.

This is a show that has always been concerned with (to quote SGU) the greater good. There are a number of episodes in which individuals realize that they must sacrifice others in order to save the majority. Whether this means leaving members behind, or sending people out on lethally risky missions.

Now take into account the fact that the two other commanding individuals, Rush and Chamille, both recommend to Young that he CHOOSE ALL 17 MEMBERS. That of-course is the right thing to do. If the shuttle crew does make it to a planet, and yet don't have a full complement of skills, then all 17 crew members would be expected to die. And yet it would not be fair to tell everyone (i.e. all the members of Destiny) that they have no hope and will die.

What I wonder is whether perhaps Young faked the lottery for the good of all: the good of those left behind and the good of those sent off in the shuttle? What do you guys think? And take into account the actual people who "won" the lottery. Random?

I don't believe that Young would have faked it - it seems to go against his very nature and I have to question your assumption that it is 'the right thing to do'. I think the existence of the lottery early on gets at some basic nature of those three - Rush, Camille and Young and out of the three, if I had to rest my fate in anyone's hands, I'd have to choose Young. At least with him, you stand a chance. I think the people were random and that they'd have a good a chance as anybody of surviving, providing where they landed was survivable.

[Pharaoh Atem]

Agreed.

third.

[Wayston]

an easy way to verify this is by looking at the skillset of the people that were drawn - it would be pretty obvious if the chosen ones happened to be the "dream team" needed to go to that planet. Although statistically speaking everything is possible, this type of reverse engineering is very reliable in reality.

in any case it was fairly clear that the planet was a long shot and that their chances of survival were low at best on there, so it was more of a "die instantly or at least have some small chance of living another day or two or three".

[cpt_ahab]

Seems most people feel like it's pretty obvious that it was real.

@ Wayston: I'm not sure. Sure it wasn't a dream team, but it sort of was what I would have chosen all things considered. Enough of both (A) a skill-set variety (incl. "the scientist" and "the leader" viz. Chamille), and (B) a persons variety (i.e. once the necessary people are on board, a number of people the Colonel would have thought useful for a colony: taking into account age and sex).

[cpt_ahab]

@ xxxevilgrinxxx: Re. would it have been the greater good to manipulate the lottery? Obviously it's arguable either way, but to me it is at least convincing that it would be.

If chances of survival for most non-optimal conditions depend on available skill-sets, then to me it is clear that to NOT choose the apropriate skill-sets would, under most circumstances, doom the shuttle members even for a survivable yet non-optimal planet. IF that is agreed to, then the next contentious point is why would it be justified to lie to the Destiny's crew? And that of course is again involves depends on your relative moral compass.

[garhkal]

While i think he did do it at random, i do hope he used some judgement.

[Wayston]

the middle way could have been to have the people with the more critical skillset put in more pieces of paper with their name than the people without it, but this could not be done without everyone's knowledge (... "first pick, okay mr. brody you have been chosen please go up towards the shuttle"... "next pick, uhhhhmm okay errmmm mr. brody you have been chosen again"...).

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

I don't think it was faked. However, shaking those gigantic peices of paper in the limited space wasn't a great way to randomize the selection.