On the subject, this is my favorite joke of all time, and probably the best trolley problem ever:
Both Kant and Bentham were gone before trolleys were a thing. So weāre dealing with zombies, ghosts or even worse --philosophy LARPers. I pull the lever and hit Bentham. Ghost or not, you sir, do not get to change your mind. Then I beat Kant senseless with Benthamās tome and leave him draped over the trolley lever.
Iām going to wait for my Ethics prof to tell me which decision is correct.
Thereās an out of control trolley speeding towards your ethics professor. You have the ability to pull a lever and change the trolleyās path so it hits a different worker. The other worker is also your ethics professor, 10 minutes into the futureā¦
Or somethingā¦
Has she posted our grades yet? Thatāll help me decide.
The best thought experiments should be problematic; if they werenāt, thereād be no point in thinking about them.
BBC Radio 4 recently repeated their programme on this in the Philosophersā Arms series, entitled, appropriately enough,Trolleyology. (I understand that folk unfortunate enough to live outside the UK can still listen to this on the web at that link, because itās radio and not TV. Shrug.) That should give some food for thought.
Well the first part of the problem seems simple to me.
Pull the lever - hitting one person is not as bad as hitting 4 people. No other considerations needed. Now add āthe 4 people hit will live but if you pull the lever the one person will dieā and the problem becomes more interesting - but just as easy - killing someone is worse than 4 injuries. Honestly Iām unsure what the point of the added āwill make you less lateā adds to the equation as outside considerations shouldnāt factor into a decision that affects peoples physical selves.
The second question is easy - walk away because no one cares if a trolly hits an ethics professor.
My wife the urban planner rejected all the answers and says we need to go back in time and invest more in transit infrastructure (especially braking systems).
Do nothing. Let Godās will be done.
Is the trolley going to hit me? Is it my fault itās out of control?
Meh. Not my problem.
Iām still working on this dilemma, but think I may have a solution involving 100 duck sized horses.
Iāll get back to you . . .
this sounds a lot like the 2016 presidential election
Has anybody thought to ask the trolley what IT wants?
Can we ring the bell?
God put us on Earth for a purpose. And that purpose is to do nothing!
Any physicist would know the correct answer can be determined easily, you must 1st assume a spherical ethics professorā¦
FTFY (but flagging prohibited)
Kill both men, steal their work, become immortal
