Changes
* the future is never known with the degree of certainty required by the problem. There is, for example, a real chance that the lifeboat will hold more, or that help will arrive, or that people will volunteer to leave the boat, or that other solutions will be found by ingenuity or prayer.
* no one is likely to be in the situation described, any more than it is likely that a [[UFO]] will land in 5 minutes and demand a parent to choose which child will be taken away by it.<ref>In the movie [[Sophie's Choice]], a [[Nazi]] officer makes precisely this demand.</ref. > It's silly to speculate on a scenario that will never happen.
* a shortage of lifeboat space is due to the negligence of someone: the captain, the shipowner, or someone else. There is no shortage of lifeboat materials and supplies in the world that require this scenario to occur.
