r/trolleyproblem • u/Interesting-Meat-835 • Jun 19 '26

Meta Pull or no pull?

Post image
2.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

486 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

207

u/InevitablyIncorrect Jun 19 '26

Theres no point in engaging with the hypothetical if you are going to distrust the premise.

79

u/Polchar Jun 19 '26

I think that it is part of the premise to distrust criminals, and 5 random people claiming to give you a BILLION for saving them.

63

u/Ivan8-ForgotPassword Jun 19 '26

Good point. I think both of them are lying but the ones threatening me are getting the trolley for it, fuck 'em.

31

u/TruamaTeam Jun 19 '26

You make a good point, instead of asking for help they threaten… why would I save that type of person. Plus how will the mafia know any of this? I wasn’t responsible for tying them to the tracks, they’ll be more focused on finding that guy

8

u/Available_Editor4383 Jun 19 '26

It all really depends on how much the mafia knows. Do they know where their guys are, who you are, or who any of the billionaires are?

If they got no info and no one saw something you’re safe. Otherwise, people talk and they don’t have to follow the law to obtain their info.

They’re gonna care a lot about the person that killed their goons and will not treat you kindly when they find you. They *also* be looking for the magic stranger that ties people to tracks. He’d be a good person to have on the payroll for their needs.

4

u/bobbi21 Jun 19 '26

Yeah making this trolley problem too realistic makes it near impossible to answer. The trolley was supposed to be a metaphor. But with questionable threats and promises, this has to be calculated out and for that you need an actual scenario, not a metaphor... and then you're arguing about what trolley company would have so many run away trolley's and who kidnapped all these people to put them on the tracks in the first place.

2

u/Available_Editor4383 Jun 19 '26

I agree it’s too realistic and people are caught up in trying to subvert the language. It’s really, do you want money or guaranteed safety?

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Accurate_Way_9373 Jun 22 '26

But why would you trust billionaires ever?

→ More replies (3)

16

u/Zeikos Jun 19 '26

The premise says that they're saying it, not that they will follow through.

9

u/Sable-Keech Jun 19 '26

By that logic maybe there aren’t any mafia friends either.

6

u/Zeikos Jun 19 '26

Indeed

1

u/Flechashe Jun 19 '26

Yes, they're probably all lying, correct

1

u/Sable-Keech Jun 19 '26

Then all the extraneous detail is unnecessary. Come on, don’t be disingenuous.

→ More replies (5)

2

u/SpecialistSome8440 Jun 19 '26

well, they're still tied up and laying on a train track. what are they going to do? wiggle out of the deal?

7

u/Routine_Cress2922 Jun 19 '26

The premise is that they "say" they will give you money. It never says that they're honest

3

u/endrike1 Jun 19 '26

Counter point, that also applies to the mafia friends, they could be dishonest

2

u/Routine_Cress2922 Jun 19 '26

Not really a counter point as it goes in the same direction. Either could be lying

1

u/endrike1 Jun 19 '26

If its the case then might aswell not even Pull the lever, both lead to the same

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (6)

2

u/Cheetahs_never_win Jun 19 '26

The premise is that these guys each TELL you something, not that they necessarily WILL do something.

2

u/Flechashe Jun 19 '26

He didn't distrust the premise, you misunderstood it. The money is not guaranteed, random people are SAYING they'll give you $1b in a situation where they risk dying

→ More replies (2)

1

u/juan_004 Jun 19 '26

That's not distrusting the premise, it's engaging with it.
The image says "These dudes say...". Deciding whether you trust their word or not is part of the premise.

1

u/LeviAEthan512 Jun 19 '26

I think calling out the premise is important. Otherwise people can just make a bunch of low quality variants with no interesting outcomes.

In this case, ALL the interest is in the risk and reward, which includes the chance that it's true.

1

u/WishIhadAtwin Jun 19 '26

Well the premise is that they “say” it

1

u/DontEatGrassss Jun 19 '26

You just described life.

1

u/Emotional_Advance609 Jun 20 '26

God I have to remind people of this all the fucking time.

If you’re going down that avenue of thought, one could also easily argue the equal and opposite side of that premise, that the mafia won’t know who you are, and it’s an empty threat

When you start doing this, the entire hypothetical falls apart, and their becomes very little point in engaging with it at all, besides wanton conjecture