• The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    23
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    This is really the only answer. The only thing that makes it “hard” is having to face the brutality of moral calculus

    • LazaroFilm@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Now, what if you’re not the first person on the chain? What if you’re the second one. Or the n one? What now? Would you kill two or n knowing that the person before you spared them?

      • Neato@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        18
        ·
        1 year ago

        The thing to do is kill now even if it’s thousands. Because it’s only going to get worse.

        The best time to kill was the first trolly. The second best time to kill is now.

        • apollo440@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yes, but it also kinda depends on what happens at and after junction 34, from which point on more than the entire population of earth is at stake.

          If anything, this shows how ludicrously fast exponentials grow. At the start of the line it seems like there will be so many decisions to be made down the line, so there must be a psycho in there somewhere, right? But (assuming the game just ends after junction 34) you’re actually just one of 34 people, and the chance of getting a psycho are virtually 0.

          Very interesting one!

          • The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            It’s not that interesting. If you rephrase the question as a choice between a good option and a less good one, it’s still barely even a choice.

            “Would you rather have only one (or, say, trillions) die now, or would you like to allow *at a minimum *twice that many people die the second we talk to a sadist?”

            If you can’t choose the smaller number, all it means is that you lack moral strength - or the test proctor has put someone you know on the tracks, which is cheating. A highly principled person might struggle if choosing between their daughter and one other person. If it’s my kid versus a billion? That’s not a choice, that’s just needless torture. Any good person would sacrifice their kid to save a billion lives. I take that as an axiom, because anything else is patently insane.

            • apollo440@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Kill fewer people now is obviously the right answer, and not very interesting.

              What is interesting is that the game breaks already at junction 34, which is unexpectedly low.

              So a more interesting dilemma would have been “would you kill n people now or double it and pass it on, knowing the next person faces the same dilemma, but once all humanity is at stake and the lever is not pulled, the game ends.”. Because that would involve first of all figuring out that the game actually only involves 34 decisions, and then the dilemma becomes “do I trust the next 33-n people not to be psychos, or do I limit the damage now?”. Even more interestingly “limiting the damage now” makes you the “psycho” in that sense…

              • The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                The fact of the game never ending is what made the choice too easy, you’re right.

                EDITED

                For this study you want sociopathy, not psychopathy. I can report from my wasted psych degree that sociopathy occurs in 1-2% of the population.

                Binary probability tells us that if you repeat a 1% chance test 32 times, you have a 95% chance of never seeing it.

                Don’t pull the lever. Sorry for the ninja edit, I misread something.

        • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          How could you know someone else is going to do it though? And how is their decision your responsibility?

          If you kill someone you are a killer. It’s that simple.