would you do anything for a few seconds more??

hi all this is my 1st thread so please be gentle, me and the wife were chewing the fat last night, it was while watchin a programme about the twin towers going down, any how a small arguement started when i said that a human will do anything to stay alive a few seconds longer, an example i gave to her of this was the fact that all the people who jumped from windows in the world trade centre in my opinion were mostly doing this, now i say them people were faced with a stark choice either be burned and choked by fire and smoke with in seconds or jump and live a few seconds longer, my wife said these people were chossin how to die either burn to death in horrid pain or be at peace falling through the air my question to you is who do you think is right on this 1?.....looking forward to your responses.....mods if this is in the wrong forum then feel free to move to the correct 1, thanks!

Never discount the survival instinct of human beings. Think of a person drowning and how they will do anything to keep their head above water... even try to climb on the shoulders of the lifeguard who is there to save them.

However, in an earthquake people thoughtlessly move toward the nearest exit. In a fire people generally move away from the fire.

so what happens when there is an inexplicable explosion, followed by shaking, then a gravity shift (tilting), a sense of falling (collapsing) and you can sense fire closeing in? I guess a few people go leming. But, I can't tell you if it was panic or survival instinct or some unusual combination of both. I'm going to guess both.

I'm afraid the only way to know for sure would be to ask them. I don't think anyone survived the fall but please correct me if I'm wrong.

reply to post by Kicking2bears


From what i seen and heard on a tv doc you can here them hitting the ground, people were filming from inside the lobby and every so often you heard a massive bang....sounds like a ton of concrete hitting the ground....then people screaming when they realise what is hitting the ground, on another docu a police officer describded them as turning into ''pink mist'' his words not mine, so nope none of them survived that fall, what a horrible choice though....burn to death in pain or fall for 15 seconds and not feel a thing when u hit the ground.....which would you choose?

reply to post by UniverSoul


not sure this is appropriate mate, unless you mean they were mad for jumping?

They were doing the same thing I would've done, jumping to escape the pain.
Those 'few' seconds you say, they'd actually be more like ten or twenty seconds. Now, with that in mind, grab a lighter and hold the flame to your finger. I'm betting you can hold it in the flame for about .01 of a second. If that.
There's no way they were jumping just to get those extra moments of time. They were jumping because hitting the ground at close to terminal velocity would be painless.
I would've jumped, no doubt about it.

reply to post by mrbrownof1978


nah i was just being inapropriate..
sorry

reply to post by UniverSoul


okey dokey, cheers 4 that, ur imput is noted....

Your wife seems to be the smarter of you both xD

...instant falling death is so much more appealing than horribly burning to death