A train is careening towards 50 people strapped on a railroad, but you have the option to pull a lever to make it careen towards only 30 people. Could you pull it, knowing that it would be completely your decision that the 30 died?
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ANSWERS: 10
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Yes I could. But I would keep searching for a better solution after pulling the lever.
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If the train were going to kill 50 versus 30, then I am actually saving 20 lives by pulling the lever. "The glass is half full"
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I would pull it in a heartbeat, I just saved 20 people. -
Do we know the 30 people? Could we make the 30 people Nuns? Please???
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The only alternative is actively killing 50 people, so I'll be the consequentialist and say yes, I would.
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Ok - who tied the 80 people to the railroad tracks in the first place?
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No action would increase the body count. There is no choice but to pull that lever.
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I would just rip open the front of my suit coat, revealing my superman outfit beneath and stop the train... saving all 80 people!! Look! Up in the sky! It's a pancake. No, it's some bacon! No look, it's Super Breakfast!
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It would be completely your decision to kill the 80 as well, as no action is a decision in itself, so I would save 20 lives and pull the lever.
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Easy decision... pull the lever.
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