The trolly problem … do you save twenty, or kill one?

[Slimshandy]

A train is coming up the tracks and you have no way to stop it… on one side of the tracks, there’s one person standing on them. On the other side, there’s twenty people standing on them.
You can’t warn them to get off the tracks.

The only control you have is a lever in front of you directing the train which way to go… if you don’t touch it, the train will hit the group of twenty people. If you push it, the train will change directions, and kill the one person.


Do you push the lever?

[Baconqueen13]

Given that I control the lever if I only push it half way then the trolley will derail at the point of track divergence making the only one that remains in the path of the trolley is myself as it derails. . However as I know the trolley will derail then I also have the opportunity to run out of it's path as the derailment is taking place, thus everyone is saved and at worst I am only minorly injured.



There is always an alternative solution to any problem, your Trolley scenario was made in folly. Trolley is spelled with an E

[Anonymous 1]

Eh, they're all idiots for standing on the tracks. Does it matter if we lose 20 idiots or one?

[Anonymous 1]

Given that I control the lever if I only push it half way then the trolley will derail at the point of track divergence making the only one that remains in the path of the trolley is myself as it derails. . However as I know the trolley will derail then I also have the opportunity to run out of it's path as the derailment is taking place, thus everyone is saved and at worst I am only minorly injured.



There is always an alternative solution to any problem, your Trolley scenario was made in folly.

What if it kills people that are ON the train? Then they die because of the idiots.

[Baconqueen13]

Given that I control the lever if I only push it half way then the trolley will derail at the point of track divergence making the only one that remains in the path of the trolley is myself as it derails. . However as I know the trolley will derail then I also have the opportunity to run out of it's path as the derailment is taking place, thus everyone is saved and at worst I am only minorly injured.



There is always an alternative solution to any problem, your Trolley scenario was made in folly.

What if it kills people that are ON the train? Then they die because of the idiots.

Trolley, not a train, and the picture clearly shows the Trolley is empty...Furthermore the Trolley would derail on impact with either set of people and the projected body count remains consistent with the number of those standing on the track, thus, also indicating the trolley is empty

[Slimshandy]

Given that I control the lever if I only push it half way then the trolley will derail at the point of track divergence making the only one that remains in the path of the trolley is myself as it derails. . However as I know the trolley will derail then I also have the opportunity to run out of it's path as the derailment is taking place, thus everyone is saved and at worst I am only minorly injured.



There is always an alternative solution to any problem, your Trolley scenario was made in folly.

What if it kills people that are ON the train? Then they die because of the idiots.

Trolley, not a train, and the picture clearly shows the Trolley is empty...Furthermore the Trolley would derail on impact with either set of people and the projected body count remains consistent with the number of those standing on the track, thus, also indicating the trolley is empty

There would at least be a driver… so it would still kill one.

[WellPreserved]

Why can't you warn them to get off the tracks?

[Slimshandy]

Why can't you warn them to get off the tracks?

You just can’t lol.


It’s a long standing ethics problem that comes up in psychology classes sometimes…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem

[WellPreserved]

Why can't you warn them to get off the tracks?

You just can’t lol.


It’s a long standing ethics problem that comes up in psychology classes sometimes…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem

I know, lol. Ethics classes too and it invariably gets the same response, saving the many for the few. I just think it's kind of lame and has absolutely no relatability for a real-life decision. I mean, a trolley!

So my answer would be since a trolley only moves on average of 2.5 miles per hour, I'd assume that the people on the track would just step off themselves when they noticed the trolley was coming toward them. I would probably give a shout of "heads up".

[Slimshandy]

Why can't you warn them to get off the tracks?

You just can’t lol.


It’s a long standing ethics problem that comes up in psychology classes sometimes…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem

I know, lol. Ethics classes too and it invariably gets the same response, saving the many for the few. I just think it's kind of lame and has absolutely no relatability for a real-life decision. I mean, a trolley!

So my answer would be since a trolley only moves on average of 2.5 miles per hour, I'd assume that the people on the track would just step off themselves when they noticed the trolley was coming toward them. I would probably give a shout of "heads up".

You guys are messing it up lol… there’s no third option, you have to pick one of the two.


It actually does relate to real life issues, albeit only theoretically…