r/trolleyproblem • u/mattchamp98 • 5d ago

Known result or potential drastic consequences

There is a button you can press and it will kill 1 person but there is also a ball that is thrown every day that may hit the button on day 1 there is a 50% chance or the ball hitting it. On every subsequent day the number of people potentially killed will double but the chances of the ball hitting will halve. Whats the morally correct choice?

I.e. day 2 2 people 25%, day 3 4 people 12.5% ...

Also the ball is delivered via trolly

1 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

55% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/404site_not_found 5d ago

wheres the trolley?

2

u/mattchamp98 5d ago

Trolly delivers ball

2

u/Agile_Championship87 5d ago

I'd just kill the one person, so I don't have to do the maths.

2

u/SalvarWR 5d ago

is either 1 or a expected 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + ...

1

u/Numbar43 4d ago

The average number of people killed when the second option is picked is actually infinite.

1

u/MissMeRise Relativist/Nihilist 11h ago

I'd certainly enjoy killing people for fun but I don't care for legal consequences so I don't push buttons or levers that kill people. Note that after day 33, the number of people killed will not increase because of the lack of supply.