How are you sure the soldiers will follow though with their end of the bargain? Once they give you the gun, can you try and shoot the soldiers? Could you bribe the soldiers to release all the prisoners?
Thought experiments like this have two options, but real life is never only two options. Getting into that mindset can lead people to accept things for the greater good without exploring all the options.
Yeah, this is the problem I have with the fat man trolley problem. I am not a railway engineer, nor am I a physicist. I have enough knowledge of railways to understand how a switch works and what the consequences are in a few seconds of observation. But knowing a fat man would stop a tram? How do I know that? I don’t have a deep enough understanding of the physics and mechanics of trams to know that! Did a rail engineer tell me to push the fat man? Well then she can do it, I’m not risking making the wrong decision based on her hunch! I can’t even imagine looking at a fat man and seeing his body as a tool I can murder in order to stop a tram. Who the hell thinks that way during an emergency? I’d never come up with that idea even if I was a rail engineer!
How are you sure the soldiers will follow though with their end of the bargain? Once they give you the gun, can you try and shoot the soldiers? Could you bribe the soldiers to release all the prisoners?
Thought experiments like this have two options, but real life is never only two options. Getting into that mindset can lead people to accept things for the greater good without exploring all the options.
Yeah, this is the problem I have with the fat man trolley problem. I am not a railway engineer, nor am I a physicist. I have enough knowledge of railways to understand how a switch works and what the consequences are in a few seconds of observation. But knowing a fat man would stop a tram? How do I know that? I don’t have a deep enough understanding of the physics and mechanics of trams to know that! Did a rail engineer tell me to push the fat man? Well then she can do it, I’m not risking making the wrong decision based on her hunch! I can’t even imagine looking at a fat man and seeing his body as a tool I can murder in order to stop a tram. Who the hell thinks that way during an emergency? I’d never come up with that idea even if I was a rail engineer!
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