Twofold Black wrote:Officer 1BDI wrote:(*But at least I'm cheating for a good cause!)
I've been thinking about this. What are the ethical implications of cheating in this context? Isn't it
more ethical to cheat, if that means the difference between an extra mouthful of rice for someone who needs it, and no such extra mouthful? Is it relevant that it probably takes longer to prevent a wrong answer than it takes to just go with it and then get two more right answers (as you're likely to, since the wrong answer drops you back to a level with more familiar words)?
I don't see there are being any ethical implications whatsoever. You see the adds regardless of whether you're right or wrong (so the sponsors get what they paid for), the site gets the money from the ads regardless of whether you're right or wrong , and while the "10 grains of rice" thing is a cute gimmick, I suspect that's all it is: ie, that the site simply contribues a certain percentage of the ad revenue to the UN and then the UN goes and buys rice. The "10 grains" thing may have some relationship to reality (ie, they might have calculated ad money per pageview and the average ratio between pageviews and correct answers or whatnot) but I highly doubt the amount of money donated actually depends on how many answers you get right.
I mean, for one thing, the price of rice varies a lot (especially since the UN apparently tries to buy it locally). Also, they can hardly go in and say, "OK, we need 47,239,443 grains of rice today," can they?
Actually, the UN presumably uses the money for whatever hunger-related programs it thinks would be most useful in an area rather than just rice. It's sort of like the Hefer program -- if you buy a "pig" or whatever, that doesn't necessarily correspond to a whole actual pig, they spend the money however they think it will be most useful (and if that means using your "pig" money to buy chickens or sheep or what have you, then so be it.)
Oh, and "zebu" apparently means "ox." Interesting. I also find this an addictive game. I don't want to leave on words I don't know (since I want to find out what it means) but I also don't want to leave on words I get right (since I want to show off my vocabulary greatness.)
EDIT: Is anyone else amused that when you Google "Free Rice" Neopets is the 4th hit? I get "free", but "rice"?
EDIT the second: Oh, the link is too that old "feed your pets rice balls" 7-11 ad.