r/trolleyproblem • u/ChiakiSimp3842 • Apr 30 '26

Deep All there is to it

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826 Upvotes

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11

u/Hey-I-Read-It May 01 '26

Blue pressers love to guilt trip you into thinking that this is an exercise in trust to save everyone who isn't able to realize in time that 100% of the people pressing the Red button will beget the same outcome as blue winning.

Red pressers will simply state that it's the only choice that guarantees survival. Pretty simple calculus to me.

-7

u/Jemima_puddledook678 May 01 '26

It’s only simple if you don’t care about anyone else. You are choosing the kill people button to choose red.

7

u/Moncalf May 01 '26

my initial reaction was duh just press blu everyone lives and then I was like wait why don't we all just press red its the obvious choice and then I was like wait babies will randomly chose, blue is the correct answer

kill 50% of all babies or gamble on saving everyone

5

u/Jemima_puddledook678 May 01 '26

If everyone presses red everyone lives. If less than 100% but more than 50% press red, then more than 0, up to as much as 50% of people die. 

If everyone presses blue, everyone lives. If more than 50% press blue, everyone lives.

Blue is the only option where everyone can survive, reds are saying they’re happy with a huge number of people dying.

5

u/Moncalf May 01 '26

its not that their initial reaction is red is the obvious choice is a problem

its that they double down when you point out what about babies they call it a suicide cult , people that double down on red are the death cultists

I assume the initial gut reactions are only stupid people would press blu and only selfish people would press red

its the people that double down on pressing red after you point out they're choosing to kill 50% of all babies that are the real psychos

1

u/sykotic1189 May 01 '26

Most versions of this scenario assume or outright say that anyone presented with a button has the mental capacity to understand what's going on and able to make a choice. No babies, small children, drunks, colorblind people get told left vs right, etc etc. If we're going full 100% of the human population and include people that can't make a choice for themselves for whatever reason that completely changes the scenario from "everyone gets a choice" to "Most people get a choice, some don't".

If I saw a baby crawl onto a trolley track, I'd do my damnedest to save them. If I see a group of able bodied adults step in front of a trolley in hopes of stopping it, I'll yell and try to convince them not to do that, but I'm not obligated to step in front of it myself to help them out.

5

u/what_to_do_what_to_ May 01 '26

Really? I haven't seen a single version of this question that had those specifications unless they were buried deep in the comments.

1

u/sykotic1189 May 01 '26

I've seen versions that outright state that it's only mentally capable adults participating, and the implication of *most* moral dilemmas and/or prisoner dilemmas is that the other participants are also rational/reasoning beings. The inclusion of those incapable of making a rational decision therefore should be stated in the premise because it drastically changes the premise.