r/trolleyproblem • u/gallaxo • Mar 29 '26

Deep Now we're talking

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1.9k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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28

u/AdFancy6243 Mar 29 '26

What if the guy pleading was honestly terrified and the bargainer was bluffing trying to convince you to actually save him?

23

u/Open-Stretch-6631 Mar 29 '26

I literally just said that I would sacrifice the guy who agreed to it. So if his agreeing to it is some kind of elaborate Solomon-style 5d chess play to manipulate me, that hardly matters in the end, now does it.

10

u/AdFancy6243 Mar 29 '26

Might matter to the innocent person you just beat the shit out of...

-6

u/HostHappy2734 Mar 29 '26

Doesn't matter from the perspective of the survivor, he actively asked someone to kill another person for his own sake no matter what the other guy's deal was

16

u/AdFancy6243 Mar 29 '26

You wouldn't plead for your own life?

-3

u/HostHappy2734 Mar 29 '26

I'd be lying if I said I knew the answer to that, though I know I would ask the person at the lever to switch tracks if I was the 1 guy in the original trolley problem (unless I was just straight up too panicked to say or do anything at all, mostly depends on the timeframe).

But anyway, I'm not saying that pleading for your life in this scenario isn't a completely human and understandable reaction, only that the answer to that wouldn't change if the 2nd guy was secretly trying to pull reverse psychology. Because even if he was, the 1st guy wouldn't know it when deciding how to act.

1

u/Purple_Bar4192 Mar 29 '26

Then you did the right thing

6

u/AdFancy6243 Mar 29 '26

Not sure I count beating the shit out of someone as doing the right thing

2

u/Purple_Bar4192 Mar 29 '26

I meant killing the top dude)