Greed?

I just watched finish 'lian cheng jue'/'scroll of swordsmanship'. Ok, given that I've read the book, the whole show was rather predictable, a little boring and too dark for my tastes. I admit, I rented the show for this actress, Shu Chang, but I kind of forgot the character she was acting wasn't very pleasing (well, not until the near end). So, overall.. the show is average lah.. I'm regretting (a little) borrowing it.
This story was written by Louis Cha/ Jin Yong. It is quite dark, and almost all the characters are damn despicable cads. The gentlemen, as they claim themselves to be, go all out to maintain their reputation, at the same time, letting greed consume them. I think that's the outstanding part of the story. When I refer to greed, I mean in all manners. People can kill, scheme against loved ones, and throw away their conscience just for the hidden treasure. They obssess over the treasure so much such that an innocent act can be mistaken to be a deliberate betrayal. One can even throw away his pride and principles and beg for his life from someone he claim to hate and despise most. How hypocritical is that? Furthermore, in order to survive in the cold, barren snow mountain, he chose to eat the dead flesh of his brothers. Is this right? Survival vs Wat? Principles? Sentiment? Respect for the dead? To be morally upright?
So, the question is this: when such unfortunate ordeals happen, will we choose to sacrifice our lives to uphold our ideals?(like not eating your brothers' meat and starve to death) In the face of the possiblity of inheriting a large sum of wealth, will we sacrifice the people closest to us in exchange for it? The last scene where the pugilists fight to their death, some idiotic enough to slice gold bricks from the PILLARS- making the whole underground chamber collapse, I was thinking how insanely stupid and mad (ok, redundant.. but my point). Are we really capable of such insanity?