this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 147 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

In that case, no, and you’re not responsible anymore. Those people working on switching out the trolley parts had every available opportunity to fully stop the trolley, more-so than you. You diverted it to save a life immediately, that crew maintaining this Trolley of Death are the real murderers.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 8 months ago (2 children)

What if the maintenance crew themselves didn't know that the trolley was going to hit the tied down person 1000 miles away?

I blame the trolley company's CEO and shareholders for allowing a random person to divert the trolley's path in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I blame whoever tied the people down.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

It was your mom.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Another fine example of a precision scheduled trollies.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago

They were told that for every part they replaced, they were diverting another trolley down a 1000-mile track

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I detect a hidden analogy of capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well it's like my grandmother always used to say: "Capitalism is like a death trolley barrelling down 1000 miles of track towards you"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Can't you just say the same thing about life in general?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Capitalism is maintained by others, and all most of us can do in our day to day lives is make sure that the people in our immediate vicinity aren't killed by it.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 8 months ago

They couldn't have replaced the trolley parts had you not sent it.

My favorite trolley experiment is still the dad presenting it to the little kid, who proceeded to think outside the box and moved the one person to the other track with the second. And then ran them both over.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 8 months ago (1 children)

At that point you pretty much got a whole day to go and rescue the guy, assuming trolley is traveling around 40-50mph

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Bold of you to assume there's a highway connection between you and the distant victim.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Just catch a faster train!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

For the sake of the argument, the train takes the same tracks as the trolley and the trolley service otherwise has the same budget as the US DOD.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

So it's going to cost 1000% more for half the distance?

[–] [email protected] 34 points 8 months ago

The trolly might not have but your choice did.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Couldnt the person tied down escape by the time the trolley comes?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

At the very least, if you throw the switch you then have a thousand miles to figure out a way to save them. Or to put the other person on the same track, depending on your style.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago

Trolley of Theseus!

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (1 children)

After a few miles down the tracks, I won't see or hear the trolley anymore, therefore i can not be certain it even exists anymore. It may have run over someone, it may have derailed, it may have exploded, it may have run out of fuel and stopped, a black hole might have opened up in its path and swallowed it whole.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago

The lack of object permanence solution to the trolly problem.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Can someone please stop the maniac who keeps tying all these people to trollie tracks?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This implies that they're not doing this willingly.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

The trolley problem becomes a lot more complex once you realize everyone on the tracks willfully volunteered to be there.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Problems like this aren't unsolved, it's just that these problems have different answers depending on the context.

Is it the same trolley that kills the man? Yes because repairing the trolley doesn't change it's name.

Is it the same trolley that kills the man? No because it is physically not the same trolley.

Humans divide their cells until the original cells are gone. Are they a different person?

Yes they are.

No they aren't.

Depends on what you're measuring or what problem you're trying to solve. But both perspectives are simultaneously true. Wait until you get to math and find out there's different lengths of infinity. It's all tools used to solve problems.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (2 children)

depending on the context

This is exactly why these trolley problems don't work. When we strip away all context and ask simplified questions the nuance disappears and the question becomes almost meaningless.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

That's why I think these are mostly nonsense. These types of questions aren't philosophical, they're psychological. They don't teach anything, they just test what you value, and they're not the best types of questions for doing that either.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The only way to win is not to play

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

You can also win sometimes by playing, depending on the context.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

Easy task: Pull the lever, jump into car, rescue the man, far away. Then burn down the trolley and everyone involved in your misery.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

If you take a thought experiment and replace all the thought with meaningless garbage, is it still a thought experiment?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (3 children)

How does one replace the trolley's trucks (wheels and axles) without stopping it over 1000 mi?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

Build an entire scaffolding around it, itself running on the same rail

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

So much work when all I want to do is run over people with a trolley.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Like the axe in John Dies at the End!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Hey, no spoilers!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Was the trolley build by NEWAG?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

You're definitely not guilty.

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