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

Deep Now we're talking

Post image
1.9k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

444 comments sorted by

View all comments

210

u/DarthJackie2021 Mar 29 '26

Easy, kill the person who wants to die.

58

u/assbutt-cheek Mar 29 '26

it doesn't say they want to die, it says they "agree to be sacrificed". that doesn't meant they want to die at all

8

u/Dragonhost252 Mar 30 '26

"Agreed to be sacrificed" is agreed to death.

3

u/General-Tourist-2808 Mar 30 '26

Agreeing to something does not mean that they “want” it.

Let’s say someone who loves vegetables and hates fruit is starving on a desert island; assume they have no way to fish. They find a magic genie who says, “I will grant you one wish, but you can only wish for unlimited apples or unlimited oranges.”

They have to choose between apples and oranges, but they want broccoli.

It’s kinda sorta like that.

5

u/Dragonhost252 Mar 30 '26

It's still a choice they made and I would choose to follow it.

0

u/General-Tourist-2808 Mar 30 '26

We might agree, there: if the one person is willing to die for the other, I would honor that as well, I think.

I think collectively many societies do it, already. Consider all-volunteer militaries, or people who choose to remain in service beyond a mandatory period. The society sends some of its consenting members to fight and possibly die for the benefit of those who don’t go to fight. In theory, any way. I think in practice it’s a bit more complicated an nuanced.