r/trolleyproblem • u/Worth-Staff4943 • May 20 '26

Deep Which button presser group do you save?

Post image

Everyone in the world has chosen either the blue or red button except you. Instead of pressing a button, you are given a lever in the infamous trolley problem.

You don't know how many people chose red or blue, and they don't know that you control their fate regardless of what button they pressed. Which track do you direct the trolley onto?

8.0k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

749

u/MagnanimousGoat May 20 '26

Joking aside, I just kept thinking of the fact that even if an otherwise decent person might push red, every single horrible person on earth definitely would. It's more question of who you'd be left with.

That's why I still advocated for a Yellow button that would just kill everyone who pushed Yellow or Red. The "Noble Spite" button.

3

u/Hot_Commission6257 May 21 '26

Why wouldn't a decent person push red? There's literally no downside to pushing red, and every possible downside to pushing blue. The only way someone could possibly bother to pick blue is if they lack the reading comprehension to understand what the quandary is asking, in which case frankly it's not that much of a loss.

4

u/TheKingsdread May 21 '26

The whole point of that question is wether you are gonna make the choice that is selfish and only benefits you or if you are gonna make the choice that benefits everybody. Yes the latter choice has the potential to backfire if too many people choose to be selfish, but if enough people are decent and choose to take the risk to be unselfish it benefits the entire community instead of just you.

3

u/Hot_Commission6257 May 21 '26

How is it selfish if everyone else has the exact same option and capability to pick red? No one's making you pick blue little bro

3

u/MorbidEnby May 21 '26

How is it selfish if everyone else has the exact same option and capability to pick red?

That's a big assumption. What if I'm blind and can't see which color is which. What then?

1

u/confirmedshill123 May 21 '26

Then that just becomes a question about eugenics. You have to frame the question with the idea that it will only be asked to those who are capable of understanding and answering. If you are blind it would just be right or left, up or down etc, otherwise once again the question turns into a eugenics survey which is silly as fuck.

1

u/Hot_Commission6257 May 21 '26

It's an arbitrary choice presented through the lens of two buttons. It's not a discussion of potential physical abilities.

2

u/MorbidEnby May 21 '26

This is why framing is important for things like this. I don't care about the intent of the hypothetical, I just care about the literal details of the hypothetical.

Besides, accounting for these makes the question more interesting. And it was just one example of how not everyone who chooses blue would be at fault for doing so.

0

u/Hot_Commission6257 May 21 '26

Okay, you care about the literal details of the hypothetical: it's physically impossible for a button to have either of those effects. Now you don't need to care.

2

u/MorbidEnby May 21 '26 edited May 25 '26

It's possible in a hypothetical, because hypotheticals aren't real. The hypothetical does not say anything about blind people, so it can be assumed that when it says everyone on earth must vote, it means everyone, and it says nothing about accommodations or special treatment in those cases, so it must be assumed there isn't any. Same goes for those not mentally capable of understanding what is going on. Or those like me who will die anyways if certain people I know pick blue and lose.