Hedgecutter Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 (edited) For those unfamiliar: A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks toward five workers who will all be killed if the trolley proceeds on its present course. Adam sees a fat guy sitting on a wall beside the track that can stop/derail the trolley. The only way to save the lives of the five workers is to push the fat guy onto the track in the knowledge that it'll kill him. Should Adam push the guy off the wall, killing the one guy but saving the other five? Edited April 16, 2023 by Hedgecutter 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry Alli Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Kill the one and if anybody asks tell them it was Turboshandy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarHibee Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 It's a pointless thought experiment as people can only give hypothetical answers to a hypothetical scenario. The hypothetical answer could be very different to what the person would actually do should they actually find themselves in the situation. Most of us would likely shite ourselves and do nothing at all. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 I prefer the one where there's a fat b*****d sitting on the wall of a railway bridge, with a runaway trolley heading for the workers on the track. Should Adam push him off the wall to derail the trolley? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 3 minutes ago, StellarHibee said: It's a pointless thought experiment as people can only give hypothetical answers to a hypothetical scenario. The hypothetical answer could be very different to what the person would actually do should they actually find themselves in the situation. Most of us would likely shite ourselves and do nothing at all. The question's about what Adam should do, not what you would do. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superwell87 Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Â 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarHibee Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 1 minute ago, welshbairn said: The question's about what Adam should do, not what you would do. How do you know my name isn't Adam? Anyway, it's still a pointless thought experiment. What Adam "should" do, isn't the point. Should and will are 2 different things. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted April 16, 2023 Author Share Posted April 16, 2023 (edited) 7 minutes ago, welshbairn said: I prefer the one where there's a fat b*****d sitting on the wall of a railway bridge, with a runaway trolley heading for the workers on the track. Should Adam push him off the wall to derail the trolley? Agreed. OP updated (only two votes on the poll at the time). Edited April 16, 2023 by Hedgecutter 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Flick the switch back and forth and whatever happens happens. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 The Quagmire Solution: Which group has an employee with a comely wife who will need "comforting" after his untimely demise? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said: Agreed. OP updated (only two votes on the poll at the time). My one's an escalation from just flipping a switch, which most people would think Adam should do. I think you'd get the opposite result in a vote about pushing the guy onto the track, even though the consequences of the decision would be identical. 'Maybe include both questions in the poll? Edited April 16, 2023 by welshbairn 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 This scenario is seriously lacking detail. Maybe the five workers are actually evil henchmen of Al Capone intend on stopping the train and killing everyone on board. In which case, Adam should do nothing. Â Â 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Steele Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 The thread title shows what looks like a shopping trolley. Would that even fit the tracks? Would it kill or just leave a nasty bruise? Adam could probably just kick the trolley over. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 1 minute ago, Fullerene said: This scenario is seriously lacking detail. Maybe the five workers are actually evil henchmen of Al Capone intend on stopping the train and killing everyone on board. In which case, Adam should do nothing. Â Â More to the point, where do they stand on the gender reform issue? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlipperyP Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Adam should mind his own fucking business. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Â 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coprolite Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Murder vs being an innocent bystander. The only way that Adam would possibly know that the only way to prevent fatalities was pushing fatty is after the fact. He'd have been shouting at them to get out the way until they got squashed. Only a psychopath would push the guy and they'd probably be quite curious as to what 5 people getting hit by a trolley looks like and not want to stop it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted April 16, 2023 Author Share Posted April 16, 2023 Just now, Fullerene said: This scenario is seriously lacking detail. Maybe the five workers are actually evil henchmen of Al Capone intend on stopping the train and killing everyone on board.   Fine... The fat guy is called Pete, aged 42. He lives in Queensferry but works at Nationwide in Dunfermline, one of the few to do the reverse commute. He lets the location of the MotoGP determine his holiday location. He has no kids, but has a cat. Person 1 is Neil, aged 38. He's an electrician from Kirkliston, and listens to Metallica most days. He supports Hibs, but attends two games a season on average. Person 2 is Carly. She's shagging Neil and is just hanging around him like a lost puppy. In her spare time he paints beach pebbles and sells them on Etsy. Person 3 is Doug, aged 17. He's working on an apprenticeship with Network Rail. He doesn't care about football and has two illegitimate kids. He refuses to say Mac 'n' Cheese. Person 4 is Gary, aged 65 and a grandfather to five. He's the manager and talks about nothing other than looking forward to retirement. Person 5 is Leonard. Nobody knows anything about him. He's that worker that gets paid to just stand about watching the others do stuff. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MazzyStar Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soapy FFC Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Knowing my luck, I'd push the guy, kill him, but the trolley would still continue on and kill the 5 others. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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