Obligatory https://neal.fun/absurd-trolley-problems/
Love this site.
I didn’t know this existed lol, I love it
This is true to the original intent of the trolley problem, which is about how our moral choices are informed by specific circumstances, rather than by moral principle. Most eager lever pullers are much more resistant to taking action regarding the master transplant surgeon, the mafia organ harvester and the stranger.
That was a lot of fun! Also nice to see the percentage of each choice.
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Our approach to climate change.
Replace the first person with corporate profits and the last person with a cliff, and you’re right.
I pass it to the n+1th person. We can do this forever because integers is infinite.
While integers are infinite, humans are not. Eventually the entire population of the earth would be on the tracks and nobody to flip the switch.
The entire population of the earth is already on the tracks with nobody to flip the switch, brother.
lights cigar
Do we consider intelligent aliens to be “person”? Because the universe is also infinite AFAIK
Most scientists agree it is finite.
Do they? There’s broad consensus on the size of the observable part, but what’s beyond that is surely more speculation than science.
Based on observations it seems that the universe curves in on itself. And is thus finite.
I’m pretty the curvature of the universe has actually been measured to be very close to 0, within margin of error, which would suggest an infinite universe. (It doesn’t prove it by any means, though. The curvature could just too small to measure.)
However, the observable universe is indeed finite, due to the speed of light being finite.
It depends on if we develop the capacity to colonize off world, and the rate at which each test occurs. Even a one-lever-a-second rate would be out grown by the current population rate, and yet some limiters to population are catching up to us. So long as we can keep the population growth rate high (which involves securing food and habitat for the people) we can outrun the trolley into the forseeable future.
Smart solution. Like this, no one ever gets killed but we need an infinite number of people on the switches.
Until you get to that one person that would like to end mankind way down the line.
It just takes one.
It’s curious how they’re selected. During the nuclear age we’ve had nukes in the hands of fanatics who hated the enemy, who were able to comprehend the gravity of their responsibility enough that not once did a nuclear tipped weapon get launched in error or against orders… or at all.
We’re closing on eighty years without an atomic war. Not a small accomplishment. It’s one of the few things that gives me hope for humanity.
See? It just needs one asshole to end the world.
If we can travel faster than the trolley, we could adjust all switches with one person who continues to travel to the next junction before the trolley arrives!
Hell of a job, but yes 😆
At this point some might question why you didn’t buy a nuke in order to stop the trolley
Horrible metaphor for life deep
what about counting on an integer overflow to add moro humans so the overpopulation gets much worse
how about this. if you don’t decide to kill, you get added to the rail for the next person to decide.
Them suddenly 90% of people will decide to kill!
kill kill kill
Now that is a new take on it.
I feel the same. That one is, indeed, a new dilemma, instead or just a joke or simple variation.
If everyone doubles it we run out of memory and save everyone
If everyone keeps deferring it, we’ll run out of people to man the lever. RIP humanity.
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I find it more likely that there is at least one person down the line that will pull the lever than that there is absolutely no-one for infinite people in line (ignoring real population limits) that will pull the lever.
Given that the choice is now 1 vs more than 1, the ethical choice is to pull the lever.
I found the lever puller, guys!
I know who we’re putting the first one on the rails!
“Died saving 20 Quadrillion people”
Best epitaph
There’s an interesting thought.
What if the limit was just a small/medium sized town?
Surely with a smaller group there must be some hope that everyone in the chain will make the right choice.
How big of a population would you need to switch from “hope everyone is good” to “I need to flip the switch, because someone is almost certain to later when more lives are (literally) on the line”
And how stressful would it be to be right at the edge of those two choices?
With no limits, there’s always the risk of a suicidal psychopath deciding on extinction.
That person down the line is probably thinking they can pull it now and kill a lot of people or someone even farther down the line is going to pull it resulting in the death of a huge amount of people
How many turns until it’s the entire population of the planet?
Doubling every turn would reach 8,589,934,592 on turn 34
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How long of a track would that be to hold that many people. Does the trolly have enough fuel to make it to the end? At some point wouldn’t the trolly get detailed by all of the bodies piling up.
Also how are these people getting captured and tied up. How much roap would you need to tie up that many people?
How are we keeping all of the people alive during the time we are capturing them. I would think it would take a little while. You would have people dieing of dehydration before you finish.
If the people tied to the previous segments are magically moved forward to the next one, 34 turns. If not, everyone would be tied to one of the tracks at 33 turns.
Edit: forgot to add 1 to include the first lever.
I see a lever, I pull it.
Cats don’t ask questions.
You don’t have opposable thumbs, you ain’t pulling shit
Am i a joke to you?
-Polydactyl cat
Like a good Boomer pass it down to the next one.
I would kill. 2X growth rate is too fast, and it is easily better 100 random people now than 200 immediately after.
What about these rules?
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The group of people in the tracks is randomized every time.
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The group always includes the person that the current decision maker loves the most.
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The choice is to kill, or to increase the number of people in the kill group by one.
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If the number of humans available reaches the population number, everyone dies.
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The list of every decision made by every decision maker is public knowledge.
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You are the first decision maker.
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Hell yeah keep passing that shit until you’re at half and thanos snap that shit
that’s just thanos snap with extra steps
Having watched those Marvel films, it sounds like fewer steps to me.
lol
If I go with 1, it won’t solve the problem. You think the sadistic fuck who set up the system won’t just laugh and set it up again for someone else to play?
Pass it along. At some point the tram will break down.
I would probably give it to the next person on the line
As long as n-1 person is the next lever puller who cares.
Well, the last human will have no one to pass the problem to, and will have to kill 2^(human population - 1), which will cap to the entire population.
If you assume that each person takes at least 10 seconds to make the decision, it would take something like 2500 years for everyone currently alive to cycle through one time, at which point we’ll have plenty of new people to pass the decision along to.
As long as we don’t increase the human lifespan past 2500 years or fully stop reproducing, we should be okay!
