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ysss's Avatar
Posts: 4,384 | Thanked: 5,524 times | Joined on Jul 2007 @ ˙ǝɹǝɥʍou
#11
I will push/pull all the switches and I will give the fat guy a really bad guilt trip so he'll jump on his own accord.
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#12
i was trying to think of some trick to save everyone, but if its basically would you take action if it meant four more people being alive than if you hadn't, then i'd rather have one death on my conscience than 5. not taking action wouldn't absolve you of guilt when you know you could have saved them...

now if the 3rd alternative was to throw my n900 on the tracks and save everyone, that really would be a moral dilemma!
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Posts: 282 | Thanked: 337 times | Joined on Dec 2009 @ Austin, TX, USA
#13
In every scenario the train will be delayed or derailed, so I will leave quickly to go catch a bus.
 
daperl's Avatar
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#14
Originally Posted by dkwatts View Post
Too skinny. Besides, jumping in front of the train is not an option.
I must be having a dense moment. I thought we push the fat guy because he has committed the deadly sin of gluttony, and thus some of us would rationalize pushing him would be okay then. But you (or the question) seem to be saying that the fat guy actually has enough mass to have a significant affect on the train's momentum. I was confused because I find the latter hard to believe. Or is there a third possibility: He's so fat that the conductor sees him in time? Regardless, if I'm sure of the outcome by pushing him, he goes. I murder 2, save 5; I get a +3 in the bottom right corner of my spreadsheet for the win!

If, of course, we're talkin' about who these people are, everything's different: Hot chicks and loved ones first, then the spreadsheet thing. But you said the singular person was a dude, and I probably don't know him, so...
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Posts: 124 | Thanked: 213 times | Joined on Dec 2009
#15
Originally Posted by dkwatts View Post
from mylot.com

I was taking a philosophy class and our teacher asked us these three scenarios.

1: You are standing by the switch near a train track. The train is coming and the brakes are broken. The train is headed on a path where it will run over five people who are tied to the tracks, killing them. If you pull the switch, the train will switch direction and go on a track where it will kill 1 person who is tied to the tracks, but if you don't pull it he will be safe. You have no time to untie anyone. What do you do?

2: You are standing on a bridge over a train track. The train is coming, the brakes are broken, and there are 5 people tied to the tracks. There is a fat man on the bridge. This man is fat enough that if you pushed him, he would stop the train from running over the 5 people, but he would be killed. Do you push him?

3: Same situation as #2, but the fat man is standing on a trapdoor. You are standing by a lever that will open the trapdoor, he will fall onto the tracks, stop the train from running over the five people, and be killed. Do you pull it?

What would you do?
1. Do nothing. I am not God, and I do not choose who lives or dies. If I act, it would be for a specific reason (eg. my child/wife is among the 5), not merely because of statistics - the one deserves to die no more or less than the five.

2. No. I am not a murderer.

3. No. I am not a murderer.


...or maybe I just film the carnage for youtube

...or take bets on the splatter radius

Last edited by Dak; 2010-04-15 at 17:08.
 
Posts: 249 | Thanked: 167 times | Joined on Mar 2010 @ International
#16
I have just given up on the morality test, it is a load of *****! the tests are based on a ***** who has broken procedure/protocal and in order to rectify his mistake, someone has to die. Morality researchers need to get themselves a proper job!
 
Posts: 1,096 | Thanked: 760 times | Joined on Dec 2008
#17
push and pull everything, then kill the others. Only way to save 50000 african children from starving to death.

just kidding
 
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Posts: 670 | Thanked: 359 times | Joined on May 2007
#18
1,2 & 3 - Answer: Scream like a girl, and do nothing decisive.

Do we have time to get their watches and wallets before they get mangled by the train?
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#19
I would take out my N900 and record the splatter with it's 5MP camera. Then I would troll the other guy over his iPhone 3GSXPSKDOSO for having a 3.2MP camera.
 
Posts: 889 | Thanked: 537 times | Joined on Mar 2010 @ scotland
#20
Originally Posted by fnordianslip View Post
1,2 & 3 - Answer: Scream like a girl, and do nothing decisive.

Do we have time to get their watches and wallets before they get mangled by the train?
nope, i took all their valuables before i tied them to the tracks (for starting meego threads on here, entirely justified!)
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sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit, but its the only wit i have.

its a sad day when i can't slip at least one hitchhiker reference in somewhere.
 
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