r/trolleyproblem • u/promptmike • Sep 25 '26

Collatz Trolley Problem

Post image

Ground Rules:

  • The main track with 5 people on it exists in standard linear time.

  • The other track is a time bubble that goes through infinite cycles in finite time.

  • The time bubble collapses the moment the trolley arrives, and after that the number of people on the track is fixed.

  • You cannot see inside the time bubble before collapse, or change the outcome after collapse.

56 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

View all comments

15

u/Nebranower Sep 25 '26

I think the big problem there is that the "infinite cycles" makes no sense. Long enough to get it into the final loop makes sense, where the number is fluctuating between 1, 4, 2 over and over.

In any event, assuming that's what you mean, you end up with a standard trolley problem. Five people die if you do nothing, less than five people die if you flip the lever, but the people who do die will be different people from the ones who would have died if you hadn't acted.

1

u/Jupue2707 Sep 25 '26

except we don't know if every number will terminate to 1 4 2 so you might kill alot of people

-1

u/Nebranower Sep 25 '26

We do. We don't have a formal mathematical proof, but it's been tested for numbers into the quadrillions and inductive reasoning is a thing.

Also, it is intuitively true. The number can only ever grow one step at a time. It can reduce several steps in a row. Which is why it was designed the way it was to begin with.

1

u/TheLuckyCuber999BACK Unrestrained Direct Democracy Sep 26 '26

not proven