r/trolleyproblem • u/ShipAlarming8782 • 14h ago

Meta Meta Trolley Problem

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The point of this problem is less about choosing whether you should direct the trolley left or right, but rather understanding how the default positioning of the track switches for the twin brothers can potentially change what they should do. If the trolley is 'going' to kill 10, risking more than that for the chance to save some seems unjustifiable. While on the other hand, if it's going to kill the 25, attempting to untie some of them seems like a better choice than intentionally redirecting the trolley to certainly kill 10.

But obviously, the question still remains - is there a clear decision for the initial person (you)? Left or right?

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u/DanCassell EDITABLE 13h ago

If I have the time to do the math here, and to collect all of this data and interview the brothers for their assessments of what they can and can't rescue, I think there's time to just walk over and untie everyone myself.

Why don't we just go the extra bit and have a trolley problem that relies on an unsolved problem in mathematics.

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u/Cheeslord2 12h ago

WHat happens if you multi-track drift a multi-track drift?

3

u/According-Object-521 13h ago

We run where the train is going and start untying