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#trolleyproblem
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Instead of trolley problems (*), maybe we should be talking about Rube Goldberg problems. Imagine you're confronted with an extraordinarily complex Rube Goldberg machine. On one end is a switch that can be flipped to start it going, after which it will run through its various complicated motions and finally stop. On the other end is a person who will be seriously harmed or killed by the machine if the switch is flipped. Imagine there's a person who knows all this and decides to flip the switch, and the person at the other end is harmed or killed with certainty. Do you hold the switch flipper responsible for the harm?
What if the machine were 10x more complex? 100x more complex? What if part of the machine could misbehave in such a way that the person at the end isn't harmed with certainty, but only with some probability? What if the machine has 10 switches, all of which have to be flipped by 10 different individuals before the machine starts and harms the person; do you hold any of the individuals responsible for the harm?
#morality #ethics #TrolleyProblem
(*) Trolley problems are silly because they are decontexualized, and so are the proposed Rube Goldberg ones. I am satirizing them all, in part, though I do think if you're going to play around with thought experiments RG is a bit closer to modern lived reality than a runaway trolley.
What if the machine were 10x more complex? 100x more complex? What if part of the machine could misbehave in such a way that the person at the end isn't harmed with certainty, but only with some probability? What if the machine has 10 switches, all of which have to be flipped by 10 different individuals before the machine starts and harms the person; do you hold any of the individuals responsible for the harm?
#morality #ethics #TrolleyProblem
(*) Trolley problems are silly because they are decontexualized, and so are the proposed Rube Goldberg ones. I am satirizing them all, in part, though I do think if you're going to play around with thought experiments RG is a bit closer to modern lived reality than a runaway trolley.
en.wikipedia.orgRube Goldberg machine - Wikipedia
The Rainy Trolley Dilemma
You're standing at a junction, holding a lever. A rainstorm is approaching, and a group of 5 meteorologists are stuck on one track, unable to forecast the intensity of the storm. On the other track, a single, infamous weather anchor is giving a live report, completely unprepared for the incoming deluge.
Pull the lever: The meteorologists are diverted to safety, but the weather anchor gets drenched, ruining their career and earning them the eternal mockery of the internet. They spend the rest of their days presenting from inside a cardboard box.
Don't pull the lever: The weather anchor's report goes viral for the wrong reasons, and they become an overnight meme sensation. Meanwhile, the meteorologists are washed away by the storm, turning the weather station into a flooded mess.
ѦਹѤʞ 
The Meaty Trolley Dilemma
You're the chef at a struggling vegan restaurant. One day, a meat-loving truck driver threatens to crash his rig into your restaurant if you don't give him some tasty meat. You have two options:
Option 1: Give in to the truck driver's demands and serve him a juicy steak, thereby betraying your restaurant's core values. The truck driver goes on his merry meat-eating way and your restaurant stays standing, but your reputation takes a major hit.
Option 2: Refuse to give in to the truck driver's demands, clinging to your vegan principles. The enraged truck driver crashes his rig into your restaurant, destroying your business but saving your integrity as a vegan chef.
What would you do? Would you sell out for a quick buck or stay true to your beliefs?
Replied in thread
@trabern It's a real #trolleyProblem, isn't it. She shows courage and integrity, while the appeasers plead compassion (a hypocritical cry into a dry well) for victims of what could be greater suffering.
The only trolley solution I see available irl is to act – or not act – with integrity and accept the consequences, examine one's own complicity in the current state, examine which choices landed you in a trolley problem, and, most importantly, comfort the afflicted, regardless of your choices.
Ach, deshalb ist #TrolleyProblem gerade wieder Thema.
Everyone assumes they would be the one pulling the lever but in reality that is someone else
Hat dieser scheiß Trolley eigentlich keine Notbremse?
An engineer is responsible for operating the world's slowest moving trolley. Suddenly, a group of school children runs onto the track, unaware of the trolley's slow approach. As the trolley inches closer to the children, the engineer has to make a decision:
- Pull the lever to divert the trolley onto a side track where an old person is crossing the rails.
- Do nothing and let the trolley roll toward the children.
However the engineer decides, the trolley is slow enough that everybody can get off the rails easily, and nobody is hurt.
The Trolley of Tasty Treats
You're on a trolley, heading towards a fork in the track. On one path, there's a giant vat of the world's most delicious ice cream, enough to make everyone happy and give them brain freeze. On the other path, there's a huge pile of stinky, rotten durians that will make everyone nauseous and possibly cause mutant powers to manifest.
You have the power to pull a lever and choose which path the trolley takes. Do you:
A) Pull the lever towards the ice cream, knowing everyone will be overjoyed and likely become overweight?
B) Let the trolley continue on its current path towards the durians, accepting that everyone will be miserable but potentially gain super stinky powers?
What will it be, ice cream bliss or durian superpowers? The fate of the trolley's passengers hangs in the balance.
The Bizarre Office Building Problem
The setting: You're the last employee in the building, just about to leave for the day. As you hit the elevator button, the power suddenly goes out! Chaos ensues as the lights flicker on and off. That's when you hear it: a strange grinding noise coming from deep within the building's core.
Now, you have two options:
Pull the Lever (Plunge): You spot an emergency lever labeled "EMERGENCY CENTRAL SHUTDOWN." If pulled, it will completely shut down all operations in the building, but at the cost of ruining countless important documents and wiping the servers clean. You might be able to use it to cut power to the elevator, but you'd better be quick!
Don't Pull the Lever (Grind): You decide to wait it out. The grinding noise gets louder and the building begins to shake. You think it might be an earthquake, but it turns out to be the building's core mechanism slowly tearing itself apart. Everyone is stranded in the building as the floors gradually collapse, though miraculously no one dies.
The Hungry Tiger Trolley
You are standing next to a trolley track, and a hungry tiger is running toward the trolley standing at the station, heading towards a group of unsuspecting passengers.
Pulling the lever will cause the trolley to drive away, but that track is also next to the home to a herd of wild bulls. If you don't pull the lever, the tiger will tear apart the passengers.
If you pull the lever:
The bulls will stampede in panic, charging towards a nearby village. The villagers will scramble in terror, but the bulls will trample only a few of them, sparing most of the lives. The tiger, meanwhile, will pout at the loss of its lunch.
If you don't pull the lever:
The tiger will feast on the hapless passengers, but the trolley will safely stay at the station. The remaining passengers will arrive late and complain about the smell of tiger breath.
Don't Create the Torment Nexus?
You're an engineer working on a top-secret project for a mysterious billionaire. The project is complete, and you're tasked with flipping the switch to start it up. Unknown to the rest of the team, the project is a doomsday device that will eventually destroy all life on Earth. If you flip the switch, you'll make billions of dollars and secure your family's future for generations. But flipping the switch means the end of humanity as we know it. Do you flip the switch and bring your family enormous wealth, or do you not flip the switch and save humanity, knowing your family will suffer?
If you flip the switch:
- You become incredibly wealthy.
- Your family is set for life.
- You may feel guilt, knowing you caused the end of humanity.
- You get away with it, as no one but you knows what really happened.
If you don't flip the switch:
- You save humanity.
- Your family suffers due to your decision.
- You are revered as a hero.
- You feel immense pride in saving the world, but constant guilt about your family's lost opportunities.
What do you do?
You're on a train, zipping through the mountains. Ahead, there's a tunnel. But the tunnel is too small for the train!
If you keep going straight, the train will slam into the tunnel wall, totaling the train and killing everyone on board.
But if you pull the lever and steer the train off the track, it will careen down a slope and plunge into the river below. Miraculously, the passengers will survive the crash. But the momentum of the train will cause a stampede of goats to tumble down the cliff, resulting in a grand total of 2000 dead goats.
What will you do? Pull the lever and save the passengers, or steer straight and let the goats live?
You are the conductor of a runaway trolley car barreling down the tracks. Ahead, there are two paths diverging in the woods.
If you pull the lever to the left, the trolley will continue on its current course, crashing into a group of 5 quantum physicists who are having a picnic in the woods. However, if you don't pull the lever, the trolley will veer to the right and crash into a group of 5 non-quantum physicists who are also having a picnic in the woods.
The quantum physicists believe in the many-worlds interpretation, so they think that in some parallel universe, the trolley will miss them. The non-quantum physicists believe in the single-world interpretation, so they think that in this universe, the trolley will definitely hit them.
What do you do? Pull the lever or not?
If you pull the lever, the trolley crashes into the quantum physicists, killing them. But in some parallel universe, the trolley misses them.
If you don't pull the lever, the trolley crashes into the non-quantum physicists, killing them. But in this universe, the trolley would have crashed into the quantum physicists if you had pulled the lever.