Imagine that you are given the power to kill one person to save X amount of people. The person you kill is completely innocent. But you don't know if the people you save are innocent; they're just a random batch of people. Would you kill the innocent person? Well, that probably depends on the number of people. How many people would you need to save to make it okay to kill one person?

Two? Ten? A hundred? A thousand?

Imagine that in the scenario, X = two. Would you kill the person then? Most people would say no because two people isn't anywhere near enough to warrant killing another person...but by not saving the two people, is that the same as killing two people? So really, instead of killing one person, you choose to kill two people. Isn't that worse?

Since some people don't like hypothetical situtations, I'll devise a possible scenario.

Imagine that some evil dude named Dr. Nepharious kidnapped X number of random people (we don't know if they are innocent or not). He then asks you to kill an innocent person. If you kill the innocent person, then he will free the X number of people. If you don't kill the innocent person, then the X number of people die.

Note: You have to kill the innocent person yourself via your preferred method

What number would X need to be to make it okay to kill the one innocent person? 

Also, how many people would need to be saved if you had to kill a close friend?

I think 42 is a decent answer.

I would need more info about the situation

like what?

You wouldn't be punished for choosing either route, if that's what you're thinking.

why would i have to kill anyone to save someone in the first place?

Do I like everyone equally?

for instance if it was my best friend. and he was in the group of 2 people. I'd kill the one innocent.

If my best friend was that single person and there was 1 million, I'd let him decide if he what he wants to happen. Then I might kill myself from guilt. But I either way :P.

But if its purely numbers. From a math perspective I'd kill one innocent person to save 2. If I liked them equally. You're essentially killing 2 if you don't kill the single one.

you're fighting the joker

It's a hyothetical situation. Meaning, just assume you're in the proposed situation (the reason doesn't matter) so we can discuss the actions that you would make afterwards.

If you really need an explanation, then I'll give you one:

Imagine that some evil dude named Dr. Nepharious kidnapped X number of random people (we don't know if they are innocent or not). He then ask for your permission to kill some other random innocent person in the world. If you give him permission, then he'll kill that one innocent person and he'll free the other X people. But if you don't give him permission, then he won't kill the innocent person, but he would kill the X random people that he kidnapped.

What number would X need to be to make it okay to kill the one innocent person?

Logic and empathy are mutually exclusive. However logic is indeed more empathic than empathy.

Then i'd try to kill joker