Thread by @EthicsInBricks

THREAD

Happy #trolleyday!

Today's the birthday of Philippa Foot, the mother of one of the best known ethical dilemmas of our time: the 'trolley problem'.

(Learn more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_p…)

The original trolley problem:

A brakeless trolley nears.
If you don't act, 5 people will die.
If you change its track by pulling the lever, only 1 will die.
What will you do?

#trolleyday

A variation of the trolley problem:

A brakeless trolley nears.
If you don't act, 5 people will die.
If you push a fat man from an overpass, he will die while stopping and saving the 5 on the trolley track.
What will you do?

#trolleyday

The minimalist trolley problem:

Trolley nears.
5 will die.
Pull lever: 1 dies.
What now?

#trolleyday

The trolley problem fallacy:
Perceiving the world as a collection of pullable levers.

#trolleyday

Tip:
Don't stand too close to a utilitarian on a trolley overpass.
#trolleyday

The dilemmas related to autonomous cars resemble moral choices from the trolley problem.

Should the brakeless autonomous car throw itself in the ravine, or should it kill Jeremy Bentham?

#trolleyday

A variation of the trolley problem:

5 people die if they don't receive a different vital organ.
1 healthy person enters with all 5 vital organs functioning.
Is it better to save the 5 by killing the 1?

#trolleyday

Poll original trolley problem:

A brakeless trolley nears.
If you don't act, 5 people will die.
If you change its track by pulling the lever, only 1 will die.
What will you do?

#trolleyday

Poll variation of the trolley problem:

A brakeless trolley nears.
If you don't act, 5 people will die.
If you push a fat man from an overpass, he will die while stopping and saving the 5 on the trolley track.
What will you do?

#trolleyday

A trolley nears.
No one is in danger.
You are an ethics teacher.
Should you put people on the trolley tracks in order to keep your job?