Pages: 1 2  Next -- Posted by noraa at 8:40 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 Five people are walking on a railroad track. They are aware of the fact that a train could mow them down at any second, and indeed, they are ignoring the one that is coming right now. But in front of the train and behind them, there is a fork in the path, and one solitary person is walking alone on the track they know the train won't go down. You can pull a lever and kill the single, smart person, or leave it alone and allow the five to die. What do you do? -- Posted by The Last Magister at 8:42 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 Kill the five. Of course I'm a misanthropist so more is a good thing. -- Posted by Ancient Rights at 8:42 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 I would choose to kill the five in the train's path. -- Posted by Cyanide666 at 8:44 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 I choose option three.  I am spiderman, and I jump onto the front of the train.  At first I try stopping it with my foot, but that doesn't work.  I shoot webs to the side, but they break.  Bracing my self, I repeatedly shoot webs over and over again, bracing myself against the train.  My mask tears off and I lose unconsciousness just as the truck slows to a stop.  I collapse onto the ground, and the passengers of the train lift over their heads and hand me to the back of the train.  I have saved all lives. (not sure why they let me into this forum.) -- Posted by TheUnrealSlimShady at 8:44 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 How can people ignore a train? But still, kill the five idiots. -- Posted by noraa at 8:45 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 Quote: from Cyanide666 at 8:44 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 I choose option three. I am spiderman, and I jump onto the front of the train. At first I try stopping it with my foot, but that doesn't work. I shoot webs to the side, but they break. Bracing my self, I repeatedly shoot webs over and over again, bracing myself against the train. My mask tears off and I lose unconsciousness just as the truck slows to a stop. I collapse onto the ground, and the passengers of the train lift over their heads and hand me to the back of the train. I have saved all lives. (not sure why they let me into this forum.) My feelings exactly, when I first heard the question. It's so hard to answer. -- Posted by Bearsy at 8:52 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 This is hard. Like I don't know if these five people are doing this because they're suicidal, or maybe they won't be killed because they're expecting the train as you say, and they're playing chicken and will know to jump out of the way. -- Posted by Alabamarama at 9:45 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 Kill the five. If the one already saw the train and chose to get out of the way, then s/he doesn't deserve to be unwillingly sacrificed for the preservation of the five who didn't have the sense to do the same. -- Posted by willz at 10:44 pm on Aug. 26, 2008 Well wouldn't the smart one be smart enough to keep an ear out for the train and jump off the track once he realized the train was heading his way? -- Posted by palepalepeach at 5:19 am on Aug. 27, 2008 I would let the five die.  They were aware of the danger and ignored it. -- Posted by allsmiles at 6:26 am on Aug. 27, 2008 Kill the five. It'll contribute to social darwinism's success. -- Posted by kk327 at 7:16 am on Aug. 27, 2008 I'd pull the lever and then hopefully the smart person was smart enough to hear the train, and get out of the way.  this is assuming he/she was far enough up the tracks to get out in time.  if he wasn't then i'd kill the dumb people cause they are just taking up space anyway if they can't figure out that a train WILL kill them if/when it hits them. -- Posted by hithere at 1:15 pm on Aug. 27, 2008 How the fuck is the one guy smart? I'd rather one person die than five, personally. -- Posted by sakurag at 9:32 am on Aug. 28, 2008 While I don't like killing people, I would probably pull the lever and save 5 lives.  The intelligence level is only part of a person's worth.  (And not very big, at that.) -- Posted by The Artful Dodger at 11:15 am on Aug. 28, 2008 pull the lever on the smart guy.. If he's smart enough he'll run off the tracks. -- Posted by MotoMojo at 10:12 pm on Sep. 1, 2008 Kill the five. Think about it, you're decreasing the ratio of morons to intellectuals, AND you're controlling the population more effectively. Win/win -- Posted by Periwinkle at 5:30 am on Sep. 5, 2008 Kill the five. They know of the danger and are ignoring it. The one person knows of the danger and is not ignoring it. Therefore, I'm going to let the five people take the consequences of ignoring the train. -- Posted by Scui at 5:38 am on Sep. 5, 2008 Quote: from Periwinkle at 10:30 pm on Sep. 5, 2008 Kill the five. They know of the danger and are ignoring it. The one person knows of the danger and is not ignoring it. Therefore, I'm going to let the five people take the consequences of ignoring the train. Agreed. The solitary person has taken into consideration the route of the train and has put him/herself in a position that minimises their own danger. If those five people know they could get hit, and, what's more, they know the train is coming directly at them, it's their own damn fault if they die. -- Posted by Crazy snake at 12:07 pm on Sep. 5, 2008 Quote: from NoNoNora383 at 4:40 am on Aug. 27, 2008 Five people are walking on a railroad track. They are aware of the fact that a train could mow them down at any second, and indeed, they are ignoring the one that is coming right now. But in front of the train and behind them, there is a fork in the path, and one solitary person is walking alone on the track they know the train won't go down. You can pull a lever and kill the single, smart person, or leave it alone and allow the five to die. What do you do? Assuming that the 5 ignorant people are chavs, then of course I would let them die. Only chavs would do something that stupid. The smart person doesnt deserve to die -- Posted by Elm at 10:12 am on Sep. 6, 2008 Do nothing regarding the switch and simply shout to everyone to get off the damn tracks. -- Posted by holysaiyan1 at 12:58 pm on Sep. 6, 2008 Heh.  Look at all the elitists and wanna-be social Darwinists. Anyway, if you subscribe to the theory that all human life is sacred and is to be protected, then you have to throw the switch to kill the one, in order to save the five. Social Darwinism is misguided psuedoscience at best, and a very dangerous philosophy to have, at worst. -- Posted by nikki at 12:33 pm on Sep. 10, 2008 This is such a ridiculous question. I bet that 99% of you, if put in that situation, would react to save the most people, which would mean killing the solitary man. -- Posted by schoon at 12:37 pm on Sep. 10, 2008 Quote: from The Artful Dodger at 2:15 pm on Aug. 28, 2008 pull the lever on the smart guy.. If he's smart enough he'll run off the tracks. More likely he ISNT really smart, or he wouldn't be playing on train tracks in the first place. So they're all idiots, and I'd pull the lever. -- Posted by xselena at 5:49 am on Sep. 17, 2008 I'd let the five die. The solitary man was on the path that the train doesn't go down, why should he suffer the consequences for the actions of five idiots  who knew the train was coming? -- Posted by Pardon my French at 6:53 am on Sep. 17, 2008 in this hypothetical situation is everyone deaf? is the smart guy deaf? can i yell out and say "hey get out the way"? why is that not an option? if he's so smart why is he walking on the tracks anyway? is it really that difficult to walk on the ground beside the track and avoid the whole situation? i don't think he's that smart. why should 5 really stupid people be worth less than one sort of stupid person? maybe you could come up with a better question to ask what you really want to ask. -- Posted by ATTI at 5:19 pm on Sep. 17, 2008 I find it interesting that in this case, it is changed to the individual being a 'smart person,' wherein every one of my texts on philosophy presents this classic question as 'the fat man.' Could this be an attempt to sway the result by changing the adjective of the individual to something society values (intelligence) as opposed to something it despises (obesity)? Anyway. The five. They are in the path of the train - it would be negligent to do nothing, but ultimately, it is the better option. To push the one person into the way of the train would be to actively participate in the death of another, which is homicide. It is more moral because the five people who are in the way of the train are destined to die UNLESS something interferes - it is not the smart person's destiny to die, unless they are forced to do so. -- Posted by myystic at 8:15 pm on Sep. 17, 2008 It's not an ethical question, kids. It's a trick. At least, from the way I'm reading it, it is. If the 'smart' person 'knows' that the train won't come down their track (that is, any given track they are on), you simply pull the lever, and allow the train to go down the track they were on. But since they know there cannot exist a world in which the train comes down their track, they can no longer exist on that track; and therefore must have switched before being run over. Of course, they then cease to be 'alone'. Though if we take the question as the past tense and the time period after their actions as the present, we no longer run into that restriction. All six live if we're smart about it, and we know that the 'smart' person is as well. -- Posted by i love foamy at 11:12 pm on Sep. 17, 2008 I would say kill the 5 people. I know that it should probably be better that one person dies instead of five but those five knew the risks and they choose to ignore them, i dont see why the smart person should die because of something a group of stupid  people did. -- Posted by Jaxie at 10:21 pm on Sep. 30, 2008 Assuming that the people on the tracks would die (and even the "smart" person wouldn't get out of the way for whatever reason) I would not pull the lever. Pulling it would mean that I'd have interfered in a way that I killed a person. Even though I would be faced with just watching five die when I could've done something to prevent it, I couldn't go out of my way to cause someone else death who wouldn't have faced it without my being there. It's hard to explain, but I'd be unable to pull the lever. -- Posted by Sins and Demons at 8:43 am on Oct. 1, 2008 Kill the five assclowns, 5 less of them does the world a favor. Pages: 1 2  Next