this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2024
964 points (98.6% liked)

Memes

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[–] [email protected] 324 points 10 months ago (11 children)
[–] [email protected] 89 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago

VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

I have been in this place before

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago

Came here for this.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Gah, you beat me to it.

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[–] [email protected] 158 points 10 months ago (7 children)

I've never understood why people have such a hard time with the trolley problem. Obviously, if you pre-emptively move that lone guy over to the rail with the five, you can hit all six at once to maximize your score. Just requires a bit of setup.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Simply hit all six with multi track drifting

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago

Y'all kids and your speedrun strats. Some of us have poor reaction time and need to perform safety setups.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

That's exactly what I think would happen with the derailing technique described here. Plus you might lose A couple in the trolley as well.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

Or just do whatever you feel like in the moment and then jump in front of the trolley to escape all consequences.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Well sure Batman can beat the trolley problem with prep time.

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[–] [email protected] 87 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Or the trolley potentially carrying dozens of people falls over, killing and injuring more people than would have been otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 10 months ago

Problem EXTRA solved, those jackasses were too lazy to hit the emergency brakes and they can answer to FSM for their crimes.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Sir the Trolley has derailed in an Ohio neighborhood spilling vinyl chloride everywhere. Lets light it all on fire to get rid of it.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 10 months ago

We did it Patrick; we saved the city!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

They did say CONTROLLED derailment..

[–] [email protected] 48 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Frame perfect trolley skip

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago

Might need TAS

[–] [email protected] 45 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I'm always sad when I see this stuff. I know it's all jokes and whatnot, but the entire meme has been born out of a fundamental misunderstanding of the dilemma that the trolley problem is supposed to represent.

The question isn't, and has never been whether you throw the switch or not. The question is that if you throw the switch, are you responsible for killing the one, or conversely, if you do nothing, are you responsible for killing the others?

Whether you throw the switch or not is immaterial to the point. Kill one or kill four (or whatever) it doesn't matter. You didn't create that scenario, so by your inaction several people died, are you responsible for their deaths, considering you never put them in that position? Or are you exempt of blame since you basically chose to be an onlooker?

I don't really blame anyone for not getting it, I sure didn't for a really long time until my friend rephrased the same dilemma in a different way (and omitted the trolley): you go to lunch and have a delicious subway sandwich, but you were not very hungry so you only are half. On your travels from Subway to wherever, you pass by a homeless person begging for food. If you decide to ignore them and keep your food for yourself for later, and that person dies of starvation later that same day because of it, are you responsible for their death?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In addition to philosophical questions, the Trolley Problem is also a good tool in psychology to study human ethical reasoning. It turns out that people's intuitive responses vary quite a lot based on details that seem like they shouldn't make a difference. If I'm remembering correctly, I believe that a lot more people say that they would divert the trolley if they imagine that they were observing the situation from a gantry high above the tracks, rather than in close proximity to the person who would be killed thereby.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

See, it is kind of a Batman philosophy.

When the Joker presents Batman with a trolley problem [Save Robin or Save Catwoman], Batman always finds a way to circumvent it and save both. Because he is Batman.

People will always try to get the best out of the situation, even though that isn't what the exercise is about.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 months ago (5 children)

what if the trolley running in 88mph?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago

Then we will see some serious shit!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Then the trolley will fire wheel itself into the future and the people on the tracks will be spared

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago (2 children)

So now you killed the 10 people that were in the train, congrats.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago (5 children)

It's not going to flip. Tolleys derail all the time (ask people living in Wrocław). They can't go fast enough to flip. It will just stop after couple of meters.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

The people in the train are the only ones with any power to stop it, but they're divided between "smash everyone quickly" and "smash everyone slowly" factions.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago (5 children)

There's an old Talaxian expression: "When the road before you splits in two, take the third path."

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That could be misinterpreted to mean “turn around and go back the way you came”

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago

Which would be a valid solution to the trolly problem...

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Hmm I feel the urge to tuvix...

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There's an old saying in Tennessee (I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee) that says, take the first path, shame on... shame on you. The third path- you can't get fooled again.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

This made me laugh much harder than I'm willing to admit

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I don't think this person knows what "controlled" means.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago

You control when it happens.

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