Thought Experiment: Trolley Problem Quiz

[Aguy | 772]

If you have a few minutes, consider taking this ethical quiz on the trolley problem. I think it's 24 questions and tells you how many respondents agreed with your decisions. I killed 81 and feel morally justified understanding that people will die and I will suffer mentally regardless of my decisions. Have fun!

https://neal.fun/absurd-trolley-problems

Edited July 7, 2022 by Aguy

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

Very interesting quiz. 

[Tabonga | 2,318]

I reduced the planetary population by 70 -including myself as needed.

[RH | 4,903]

Well that was something.

I killed 48.

[RH | 4,903]

Also...

Hahaha, one of the best segments on that show.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,532]

55

I also assumed that in many of those situations I'd probably be frozen into inaction by the gravity of the situation or the inability to analyze it in time.

I also realize that is a very literal way to answer questions that are meant to be philosophical in nature. 

[Tulpa | 3,501]

46.

You guys are sadists.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,532]

2 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

46.

You guys are sadists.

Those lobsters had it coming.

[360collector | 289]

73. Too many cats anyway, my enemy dying

[Tabonga | 2,318]

48 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Those lobsters had it coming.

It was probably a quicker death than being boiled alive.

Anyone have any picks?

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Kill count: 62

Question # 8 is bizarre. The people being asleep is irrelevant to whether they'll feel pain and I can only interpret the implication they won't feel pain as them all having a rare medical condition not specified by the question or, since it never actually specifies here the trolley will actually deal the five any damage whatsoever, there must be a guaranteed chance through some unspecified method that they will survive regardless of whether the lever is pulled.

[RH | 4,903]

I'm pretty sure if you're lying on the tracks of a train/trolley and you were to get hit by it, it probably wouldn't hurt.  You'd be dead so fast, I'm not sure the nerves would have enough time to send the signals to your brain before you'd be dead.

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

 

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,532]

15 minutes ago, RH said:

I'm pretty sure if you're lying on the tracks of a train/trolley and you were to get hit by it, it probably wouldn't hurt.  You'd be dead so fast, I'm not sure the nerves would have enough time to send the signals to your brain before you'd be dead.

See, you're like me and interpreting it very literally.  We're supposed to be weighing the infliction of pain and suffering and death, but they have an imperfect way of laying it out.

[Link | 2,712]

lol. I killed myself twice. I definitely killed the baby. The external costs question is silly, another trolley will simply be built to replace it so killing the trolley causes more resource to be consumed, not less. 

I killed 69 people. Nice.

[Link | 2,712]

5 minutes ago, JamesRobot said:

 

 

[MagusSmurf | 577]

My take on the 10% of 10 people vs. 50% of 2 is that you kill the same amount of people on average either way but if you send it to the 10%, there's a 90% chance nobody dies and without any bodies there's a decent chance coverups and bureaucratic inertia could lead to nobody responsible being properly punished for letting this happen, and even leaving open some possibility this happens again, but leaving an actual dead body would be a Big Deal and much less likely to be hushed over, therefore choosing the option more likely to guarantee a corpse is superior as long as it does not increase average lethality.

[Murray | 2,448]

87% of people are wrong 

[Californication | 1,477]

2 hours ago, MagusSmurf said:

My take on the 10% of 10 people vs. 50% of 2 is that you kill the same amount of people on average either way but if you send it to the 10%, there's a 90% chance nobody dies and without any bodies there's a decent chance coverups and bureaucratic inertia could lead to nobody responsible being properly punished for letting this happen, and even leaving open some possibility this happens again, but leaving an actual dead body would be a Big Deal and much less likely to be hushed over, therefore choosing the option more likely to guarantee a corpse is superior as long as it does not increase average lethality.

I read that as: option a. 50% chance 1 person dies, option b. 10% chance 1 person dies, 90% chance no one dies or more people can die. So I went with A.

[fcgamer | 4,723]

Killed 71.

In some cases I think it's personally better not to get involved in fate.

 

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

@Estil You gonna let Murray get away with that?

40 minutes ago, Murray said:

87% of people are wrong 

 

[RH | 4,903]

11 hours ago, Murray said:

87% of people are wrong 

You can cook and eat 0% of all lobsters that are squashed by trolleys.  Fact!

Edited July 8, 2022 by RH

[Aguy | 772]

24 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Killed 71.

In some cases I think it's personally better not to get involved in fate.

 

I agree, but I see it as it's not for me to decide that one person's life (or 5) is worth any more than another's. So unless pulling the lever leads to zero deaths, I chose not to do anything.

[Tanooki | 4,933]

1to1, I'd take the bribe, be a fool not to.  And yeah lobster even if it's mashed by trolley will be just fine with a wash down, butter and some well placed time in a hot pan or some soup.  And the 9th, well they wanted to die, who am I to argue?  I'm terrible I guess?  I got 61.

[fcgamer | 4,723]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

1to1, I'd take the bribe, be a fool not to.  And yeah lobster even if it's mashed by trolley will be just fine with a wash down, butter and some well placed time in a hot pan or some soup.  And the 9th, well they wanted to die, who am I to argue?  I'm terrible I guess?  I got 61.

If the guy is rich and is bribing me, he's likely a Wata lion-shooting dentist, so I'd love to not take the bribe just to watch the entitled pricks face as the trolly barrels towards him...