[tryitnow]

Yes, of course, anyone with a decent imagination can do so.

Unfortunately, that has little practical impact.

I can construct a lot of scenarios where I build an amazing startup and become a billionaire seemingly overnight.

Tragically, my bank account balance always seems to ignore the brilliant scenarios my mind comes up with.

Honestly, outside of philosophy departments questions like this aren't terribly useful.

The problem with your question is that ignores the specific circumstances of this case - where there obviously was no dirty bomb, there was no "certainty", there were not one million lives at stake in some definite deterministic sense.

[adamsmith143]

>Honestly, outside of philosophy departments questions like this aren't terribly useful.

I disagree completely. The fact that you can construct such a scenario says something very important about it. That it is not totally morally indefensible and the discussion is not one about a binary choice but one about degree.