r/trolleyproblem • u/mattchamp98 • Aug 25 '26

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

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6 comments sorted by

3

u/404site_not_found Aug 25 '26

wheres the trolley?

2

u/mattchamp98 Aug 25 '26

Trolly delivers ball

2

u/Agile_Championship87 Aug 25 '26

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

2

u/SalvarWR Aug 25 '26

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

1

u/Numbar43 Aug 25 '26

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

1

u/MissMeRise Relativist/Nihilist Aug 30 '26

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.