• starman2112
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    45
    ·
    9 months ago

    At any point in time, a finite amount of time has passed, and the trolley has killed a finite amount of people. The correct track is the one that, at any given time, will have killed fewer people. Unless the trolley speeds up to account for that and always kills n people per second, the top track will result in less deaths over any period of time.

    • JohnDClay
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      9 months ago

      The straight ahead track actually kills an infinite number of people every interval of time.

    • wewbull@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      9 months ago

      The tram travels at light speed and so time no longer flows for you. You exist in a singular moment of splattergore.

      • brianorca@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        But even light speed is finite for the people on the track. It’s only the tram that stops experiencing time.

        Also, you’re not on the tram. You’re standing at the switch.

    • Socsa
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      9 months ago

      All trolleys to date have been finite. A trolley which can kill an infinite number of people would truly be a marvel of engineering.

      • humanplayer2@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        Every finite trolley passes infinitely many points when moves, if you accept space as infinitly divisible (structured as the real numbers).

    • 🔍🦘🛎@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      9 months ago

      The train tracks are linear time on Earth. It’s basically the choice between letting people be killed or dying of old age.